You're likely to succeed if you try
by Kuugen the Fox
Summary: On a non-specific, not overly nice but very much decent summer day, Fu witnesses Yuna and Tougou going on what appears to be a date. Knowing that Itsuki is occupied, she calls who has to be called and with few words and even fewer explanations, Karin is summoned to her side via the force of text messaging to help Fu in her quest for the truth. Series of Oneshots.
1. Pretending is Harmless, Right?

**Pretending is harmless, right?**

"Why am I here?" Karin pulled on the sleeve of Fu's school uniform. "Hey, Fu, I'm talking to you."

The answer was very prompt and equally rude. The right arm of the older girl, currently pressed hard against the edge of the corner of a very tall building, reached for Karin's left arm and pulled her closer, so she could see.

"It's Tougou and Yuna. And look at them, they're totally on a date."

"So what? Don't tell me you're going to-" Karin found the answer almost immediately after the words had left her mouth. Fu dragged her from one corner to the next, tailing Yuna and her date all the way to a shop for summer clothes.

"Stalking is a crime, you do know that, right?" Karin wasn't comfortable following them around but there was a sense of unbound curiosity that drove her to do it anyway. A real hero didn't lie to themselves... right?

"We're not stalking them, just **supervising** them on their date. It's my responsibility as their club leader."

"I'm pretty sure that's **not** your responsibility and you're just super curious." Karin turned away and was about to also walk off when Fu grabbed her with an insane look in her eyes.

"Don't you wanna know? **You want to know**, don't you?"

"I actually don't and I'm going home. It was stupid of me to even come when you called. Don't call stuff like this an emergency!"

"I bet you're just going home to be alone and train." Fu grinned when Karin twitched, a sure sign that she had hit bullseye. "Yuna and Tougou are totally beating you in being adults, you know? You might as well be a kinder-" Fu realized was coming on a little hard when Karin nearly exploded.

"I-I could find a date anywhere if I-I wanted to! That's a piece of cake!"

"Eh, I wonder if I should put you to the test then. As the **experienced woman** between us, I'll let you go on a date with me." Fu very much enjoyed pushing Karin's buttons, even if it sometimes had surprising results.

"Fine by me! Let's go! I'll show you how amazing I can make a date!" Karin was screaming internally at frequencies that were very much reserved for other lifeforms.

"Eh...?" Fu hadn't quite anticipated that she would jump on that. She had precisely **zero** dating experience and expected Karin to have just as much, but she couldn't be sure. But it was too late to get out. She had to show off her girl power now!

Going into the summer wear shop, Fu and Karin immediately took cover behind a shelf, spying on Yuna, who was in the process of holding a rather sexy dress up in front of Tougou.

"I don't know, Yuna. Isn't that rather risque?"

"I think your hero outfit is a lot more risque than this." The comment had the unintended effect that Tougou would very much feel self-conscious about her rather good figure the next time she transformed.

"What are they talking about?" Fu was leaning against Karin, who was growing intensely uncomfortable with the sensation of Fu's rather sizable breasts pressing through the clothes and on her back.

"Clothes, what else." Karin blushed a little because she **did** hear what Yuna had said and because of the situation, her mind wandered back to that little trip to the beach and Fu in a bikini. The memory did not help her keep her cool one little bit.

"Can't you hear what they're-" Fu flinched and distanced herself a little from Karin when a clerk noticed them and approached. Grabbing the first thing within reach, she took it and spoke out loud. "Do you think this would look good on me, Karin?"

"What are you talking-" Karin looked over her shoulder and noticed the approaching clerk and Fu's evasive maneuvers. Nervously, she looked without really looking and answered as non-specific as possible. "Why don't you try it on?"

Both of them felt rather nervous. If they were just there to shop, that would've been one thing, but Karin still had the date thing in mind and Fu would die of embarrassment if she was caught stalking her friends on a date out of wild curiosity.

The clerk reached them just as Karin saw what exactly Fu was holding. To call it a **sexy** swimsuit would still be an understatement. It resembled a one-piece that was cut in as many places as possible, putting some rather strong emphasis on a small waist and the breasts of whoever wore it. "Can I help you, dear customer?" Noticing how nervous both of them were, she quickly came to a horribly wrong conclusion as to why and cracked her most awkward smile.

"J-Just asking for my girlfriend's opinion." Fu blurted out without thinking and noticed that the awkward smile of the clerk didn't get any more awkward.

"We have fitting rooms over there. I will have to remind that while it is not against store regulations to enter an occupied cabin with permission, we have strict guidelines on **conduct** regarding the-" The clerk's incredibly specific and forced explanation was rudely interrupted by Karin, who was just stammering the word _conduct_ over and over until Fu grabbed her hand and pulled her a few meters away from the clerk.

She didn't actively try to form an opinion on it but holding Karin's hand left the clear impression of _Nice_ with her. "Great acting." The sarcasm was so thick that Karin could have choked on it.

"I didn't expect her to expect **us** to do **s-stuff** in a public place!"

"Probably the fault of this **thing** I picked up." Fu would describe it only as **adult** when asked about it at some point.

Grabbing Karin and pulling her behind another shelf, Fu continued where she had left off earlier, spying on Tougou and Yuna, who were just entering the one fitting room that was larger than others. It did quite amaze her just how many places were wheelchair accommodating nowadays. "Damn, they're out of sight."

"A-Aren't you gonna try that on?"

"Try what on?"

Karin pointed at the swimsuit that Fu was still holding. "That."

Unable to make up her mind on the fly if she should act embarrassed or play it tough, she went with tough. "Want to see? Was looking at my **sexy body** at the beach not enough?" Fu loved to exaggerate a bit. Or a lot.

"O-Of course. What kind of date would we be on if I wasn't interested?" Karin was almost literally fumbling her words but managed to get something like a sentence together before the embarrassment made her head explode.

Fu was suddenly backed into a corner. Rejecting the idea would be very bad but wearing that **thing** would immediately raise her personal rating from T to M and she wasn't quite ready to wear something like **that**, even though it **technically** covered more skin than a bikini.

Two minutes later, Fu refused to come out of the dressing room and waved Karin in, instead, under the pretext that they could eavesdrop on Yuna and Tougou who were in the next cabin.

No eavesdropping was actually happening but a lot of blushing, jaw dropping and intense blushing, which is completely separate from regular blushing, happened in rapid succession of each other. "I'm... I'm buying that." Karin was, by completely coincidence, whispering since she thought she was only **thinking** those words.

Fu regretted teasing Karin about her dating experience right now but not as much as she felt flattered since Karin's eyes were figuratively glued to her and she hadn't ever before gotten attention like **that**.

"Don't you think it shows off my breasts too much?" Tougou's voice from the cabin next to the pretend couple.

"That's why I picked it!" Yuna sounded much too happy.

That their words seemed like the thoughts going through Fu's and Karin's minds were pure, if hilarious, coincidence. "I'm changing back." Fu announced with a low voice and looked at Karin, who just stood there for a few more seconds. "Karin, wait _outside_ the cabin and follow Yuna when they come out!" The loudest whisper humanly possible got Karin to leave.

Waiting outside, ready to hide when necessary, Karin got her act together. "I was just showing you what a real date would go like! I'm still winning!" She wasn't entirely sure **what** she was winning but she was definitely winning something.

Fu managed to come out of the cabin before Yuna and Tougou were finished in theirs. "We'll wait outside. It's too hot in there, I feel like I'm melting." What was actually melting was her brain. She had definitely felt her heart go into an overdrive that felt like she was running hard enough to keep up with a bullet train. A pretty serious question popped into her mind. Was she much hotter than she gave herself credit for?

There was also a silly question that dealt with actually, possibly, eventually, somehow liking Karin the way guys would like her. But that was ridiculous. Right? **Right?** **Totally ridiculous**.

"You were all _I'm so experienced_ but you're not even holding my hand." Karin preferred to not make sense of whatever was going on in her head and just focus on what was important. Winning this contest of who was the better... had the most... she was getting a headache trying to accurately specify what she was winning again.

Fu wasn't quite opposed to that nice feeling she got when holding Karin's hand but with every second she did do that, the silly question got a little less silly and equally little more worrying. What **if** she was actually into girls? That would explain **so much**, Fu thought.

Especially that burning hot feeling in her face when she woke up in the middle of the night and Karin was cuddling with her and she could feel her breath on her lips and-

Fu's train of thought was very simple from there on and went something like this: _I am totally a lesbian, aren't I? But considering I'm also a magical girl, an eye-patch wearing volunteer and raising my little sister on my own, that's kinda a minor thing, right? Nothing to make a fuss about_. _Yep. Nothing to fuss about_.

Her head tried to fuss about it a lot, especially when confronted by her chest with the fact that she was holding hands with a rather, something she realized rather suddenly, cute girl that she had already kinda, somehow, spent a night with. Not **that** way of course, but still.

"They're going into a cafe." Karin observed in a matter of fact way. Pulling Fu to a nearby and awfully conveniently placed street vendor that was selling big hats, sunglasses and summer scarves, she got a big hat for herself and big sunglasses for her _girlfriend_. Paying with her phone, one of the benefits of being employed by the Taisha, Karin found that Fu actually lost a bit of charm with the sunglasses. "I prefer your eye-patch but it's a dead give-away. I'm trained in disguises, so leave staying undetected to me."

Fu was thankful for the distraction because the _I'm a lesbian, what now?_ and _Is this actually okay?_ forces in her head where about to go toe to toe with rather large metaphorical bats.

Slipping through the second door of the cafe, towards the back, Karin and Fu sat down at a round table that was a few meters away from Yuna and Tougou, putting a large potted plant, that looked extremely exotic and unnatural in the otherwise pretty normal cafe, right between them.

This time, it was Fu who was listening in. "Let's get this one, _Mimori_."

Fu immediately commented on this sudden development. "Yuna switched to calling Tougou by her first name. I had totally forgotten her first name is Mimori."

Karin's face was buried, not literally of course, in the menu pamphlet, trying to prevent yet another clerk related accident that would result in- "You left the swimsuit!" Karin said a little louder than she had planned.

"Of course I did!" Fu countered and blushed just thinking about it. "Sssh, they're ordering." Fu was quiet for a few seconds before quietly whistling. "They're ordering the Cupid Sundae. Man, how did they keep this kind of relationship a secret from us all this time?"

Karin's mind was unusually focused on something she specifically didn't want to focus on which in this case was the image of Fu in that super sexy swimsuit. When the waitress asked her for the third time what her order would be, Karin lost all control, panicked and simply repeated the last thing from the menu. "One Cupid Sundae."

Expecting the waitress to ask Fu for her order, Karin was incredibly confused when she simply walked away. "Did you already order?" Karin grabbed Fu's hand to get her attention. To onlookers, it gave the impression of a caring girlfriend.

"I thought you ordered for both of us? What did you get?"

The realization of **what** she had actually ordered hit Karin like a brick to the face, flying at nearly the speed of sound. "The cupid sundae." She wanted to hide behind her own embarrassment because it was solid and visible enough to make a wall out of it.

Fu blushed and tried to play it off as yet just more pretend-date activities even though it was very rapidly turning into something else. "Good thinking. We're on a date, so of course we'd get a couple sundae."

"Cupid Sundae." Karin corrected her and felt that she was missing a point or a dozen, possibly.

Five minutes, that were actually twenty months to the two girls sitting at the table, on a pretend date, working out a lot of complicated issues like what their sexuality really was and whether they were still winning, later, a cupid sundae was delivered to them in one big glass, two straws and one spoon.

Both of them hoped it was a mistake and that the waitress would realize it, but Fu only needed to take a quick look at Yuna feeding Tougou and roles reversing for the next spoonful to know that it was no mistake and that the hole she and Karin had dug themselves into was being filled with a one of a kind pink concrete and there was no escape.

Karin took the initiative, fit some of the red, presumably strawberry flavor, ice cream on the spoon, leaned forwards and waited for Fu to do what they both knew couples would do in situations like this.

Feeding each other in total silence, so total that even a sledgehammer of a topic couldn't have broken it, Fu was rapidly discovering in her head that she, probably and most likely, was rapidly coming to _like_ Karin the exact way Yuna liked Tougou, possibly minus a few hundred levels of obsession.

After the sundae, that seemed like it was regenerating before their eyes, was finished, both girls were mentally tired out. Fu needed a hot bath and maybe some actual quiet minutes to figure out if she was actually okay with liking Karin, who was just now figuring out that that _winning_ wasn't quite what had been happening the last hour or so. Puberty hormones be dammed, both of them thought.

Remembering their purpose in even being there, Fu turned around only to find Yuna and Tougou's table to already be cleaned, meaning they had left at least a few minutes ago. Coming to terms with the incredible fiasco, and depending on the angle of view: success, that the stalking, she meant observation, had turned into, Fu called it quits. "Looks like we lost them. I, err, need to go home and actually start making dinner for Itsuki." A bold-faced lie, because it was barely three in the after-noon.

"I need to finish my daily training." That lie was even bolder and possibly bold enough to whack someone over the head with and leave them unconscious for Karin was on a prescribed resting day.

Paying very quickly, Fu paid, both girls went their separate ways, not noticing that it was now **them** who were being watched.

"Operation complete." Tougou grinned and looked up at her girlfriend. "How did you figure out it would happen like this, Yuna?"

"I had **no idea** actually!" Yuna laughed and scratched her cheek. "I thought they were getting really close and since Fu obviously can't date Itsuki, I figured they would figure things out if we got them in the mood!"

"Jeez, Yuna..." Tougou giggled. The _operation_ was complete but their date still had a lot of life left in it.

=== End ===


	2. In time of (no) need

**In time of (no) need**

"I'm dying." Fu lamented and played around with her old eye-patch, still keeping it as a memento of her time as a hero.

Not that she particularly needed a physical memory, considering the Hero Club was still alive and kicking, not _that_ kicking right now, one had to admit, and all her most important friends were there.

Karin also happened to be there, which was nice.

"Nobody dies from boredom, Sis." Itsuki was still occasionally reaching for the notepad that was no longer there and sometimes she played with the idea of using it for comedy effect.

"I will!" Flailing and almost falling off her chair, Fu looked up in anticipation when she heard the door open only to find Tougou and Yuna return to the way too hot and very much boredom-filled club room. "**Anything? **Lost kittens or cats, an old lady that needs help, children for whom we can put on a show, dogs that need walk-"

"You'll become a workaholic when you grow up, Fu. That's not healthy." Karin's snide remark earned her the full extent of Fu's anger, which amounted to little more than pointed fingers and a raised voice because it was far too hot to do anything.

Karin thought so too and was half-asleep in her chair, leaned back, suffering through the heat with her friends. There was only so much training one could do without literally melting in this heat.

"I don't want to hear that from the health nut and training maniac!" Fu fired back, slamming her hands on the table and sinking onto said table instead of raising up and looking angry.

"Now, now." Tougou raised her hands, standing at the end of the table, the width of which separated Karin and Fu and foiled all of their attempts of fighting. "There really wasn't anything, but-" Tougou felt that Yuna was about to burst out with the news anyway so she stopped right there.

"Water World tickets!" Yuna triumphantly held out six tickets for a three days two nights stay at a massive pool-focused theme park. "When we were looking for work in town, the old lady from the grocery store, you know, the one where we put up the new store sign and handed out pamphlets. She was going to hand them out among customers but decided to give them to us when she saw Tougou and me. Awesome, right?"

Most of the long-winded explanation flew over, and in Fu's case, through, their heads but they all suddenly felt excited about the prospect of getting away from the heat. "Looks like being the Hero Club pays off sometimes." Karin said in jest and immediately earned a rebuke from Yuna.

"We're not doing it to get rewarded, Karin!" Yuna was about to launch into an explanation of how heroes are righteous and selfless when Tougou stopped her.

"Karin knows that. But we definitely need to help her with her humor." Tougou teased and watched Karin look away.

"We're totally game for a trip, right Itsuki?!" Fu was as excited as the remaining four combined.

Itsuki just gave a happy nod and a hum of approval while looking to Karin, who was quite fixated on Fu all of a sudden. "You're coming too, right Karin? Since you live on your own, you can decide by yourself." Itsuki rarely if ever thought about her living circumstances and not having parents since Fu kinda filled that role in addition to being her sister but in cases like this, it wasn't all bad.

"I already got permission." Tougou announced and earned a surprise _what?_ from Yuna. "I made the call while you were going to the toilet."

"There is no way I'm letting you lot go anywhere without supervision." That was Karin's way of telling them that she totally wanted to go. Anything to get out of the damn heat.

"It's settled then! We're leaving on Friday, right after school!" Yuna announced and triumphantly held the tickets up again.

Three days, that were filled with incredible boredom, even more incredible heat, and, most of all, growing anticipation of going to a theme park, later, the girls were on a train that took them to their destination at breakneck speed.

Itsuki was asleep in her seat. It wasn't that she didn't manage to fall asleep. Rather, it was Fu that couldn't sleep and kept her up all night. Said Fu then promptly slept through classes in school and was now very much fit. Fu and Karin occupied two of the remaining three seats of the aisle while Tougou and Yuna were on the other side.

Fu had calmed down a lot after the train's air conditioning broke down one station after they left and was now staring out the window. "Hey, Fu." Karin's voice wasn't loud enough to reach all the way to Yuna and Tougou because Fu had opened the window the little bit it could be opened, the wind very much obfuscating Karin's words.

Fu didn't give any spoken response but looked at Karin and hummed. "You **did** bring that swimsuit I bought for you, right?"

The blonde blushed so fiercely that Karin got embarrassed and hoped Yuna and Tougou wouldn't see it. A careful look to her side revealed that they were very much in their own little world, with Tougou feeding Yuna some of her snacks. Karin kept wondering when those two would just come out and say that they're dating.

"That **thing**?" Fu whispered over the noise of the wind and tried to get her face back to normal.

"Don't tell me you threw it away. It was pretty expensive." Not that Karin was poor, living a pretty frugal life and getting quite a bit of money from the Taisha still for being a retired Hero.

"I brought it." Fu didn't want to admit that she **really** liked that swimsuit. It was very sexy and she was confident in her body. Not as much as Tougou _could_ be, but more than enough to wear that swimsuit in public.

Her relationship with Karin was in a very weird state. At some point between stalking- _observing_ she meant, Yuna and Tougou and going on this trip, Karin had asked Tougou how she could tell if she was in love with someone. And with Tougou's advice, Karin had realized she fancied Fu.

Said Hero club leader wasn't sure how to feel about that. She had heard the story from Itsuki who had overheard Yuna and Tougou talking about it in private. Basically everyone knew that Karin liked Fu but wasn't making any attempts at confessing. There were the gifts of course. The swimsuit, the fancy hair ties, and some rather questionable things like a dumbbell and running shoes, as well as a wooden sword that used to belong to Karin. But she hadn't come out and said anything or even asked Fu on a date.

Deep down, the former hero wondered if Karin actually knew **how** to ask someone out on a date or that people actually did that. Of course she couldn't just walk up and ask her, but then again, this weird in-between status was driving her nuts.

Fu wasn't really uncomfortable with the idea of being with Karin. She didn't have any complaints about Karin's personality or looks. Well, maybe _some_ complaints about her personality and lack of common sense, but that was a good source of comedy every now and then.

Karin didn't say anything after Fu told her that she brought the swimsuit and eventually, Karin and Fu both ended up staring out the window, trying their best to ignore the sweltering heat.

Tougou and Yuna were, unsurprisingly, talking about those two. "Mimori, what did you tell Karin when you talked about Fu?" Yuna called her that only when she thought nobody was overhearing them. Other than that, it was always _Tougou_.

"I might have neglected to talk to her about actually confessing and dating." Tougou sighed. "I didn't think that needed explaining."

After four playful hours for Tougou and Yuna and four sweltering hours for Itsuki, Fu and Karin, they finally arrived at their stop. Karin was carrying Fu's bag while Fu herself was carrying Itsuki, whom she didn't want to wake up because it was really her fault that Itsuki didn't get enough sleep.

It was a fifteen minute walk to the theme park and as they came up to the entrance, Tougou and Yuna instinctively headed towards the wheelchair ramp for a second, but when they noticed, they laughed it off and took the stairs like everyone else.

Checking in was surprisingly simple and within twenty more minutes they had their rooms. Disappointingly for Tougou and Yuna, it was five single rooms. Leaving their luggage with Karin, Fu, and Itsuki, who was now up but still drowsy, Tougou and Yuna went to the reception and tried to switch some rooms.

Fu realized that Yuna had taken **all** the tickets and hoped she would get a double room so she and Itsuki could stay together. _Alternatively_, a voice in her mind started, _I could stay with Karin and see where this little romantic adventure gets me_.

Karin was listening to music and sitting on her bag while Itsuki was playing something on her phone. Waving to Karin, Fu got her to take out one of her ear buds. "What'cha listening to?"

"Elementario, four girl rock band." Getting up, leaving her bag, and walking over to Fu, who was simply sitting on the ground in front of closed doors, Karin offered the ear bud to the girl she liked.

It was pretty good music and to her surprise, Fu wasn't bothered at all that Karin was so close. "I think you looked pretty cool with your eye-patch." Karin often commented on things like that.

"You used to have one too, right after our great finale. If people saw us together they must have thought it's a partner look." Fu didn't really think about what she was saying and just blurted things out.

"Since I'm a gracious person I'll let you copy my fashion style if you want to." Karin looked away and blushed a little. Tougou had mentioned that _Tsundere_ thing to her and she found it a bit hard to do on purpose despite Tougou saying that she was a natural.

"Over my dead body." Fu raised her hand to deny the very notion.

"Do you have some problem with the way I dress?" Karin started a shallow quarrel.

"Sometimes your fashion sense is as outdated as your sense for snacks. Don't tell me you brought all those old people snacks you always eat with you!"

"I like them so what's the problem!"

"You two get along so well." Itsuki giggled while looking up from her phone only to receive a perfectly synchronous answer.

"We don't!" Looking at each other, both Fu and Karin had to laugh.

"Okay, maybe we do, but certainly not because of Karin's stubborn streak!" _That __**is**__ stubbornness that keeps her from confessing to me, right? It's not actually that she expects me to take the lead. Or does she?_

_Maybe I should just take the lead and ask her out. This trip is the perfect chance to do that, too. But knowing this stubborn girl, she'd even turn me down if I just straight up asked her out._

Fu, occupied with her thoughts, didn't notice at all that Karin had taken her hand. In turn, Karin, occupied with Fu's hand, didn't notice that Itsuki was watching and giggling to herself. She liked Karin a lot and thought they fit pretty well together. It was a bit weird for her _sister_ to like other girls but all things considered, the universe being a big tree in the middle of an ocean of fire and hostile marshmallows was much, much weirder.

With the impeccable timing that only a happy couple could master, Tougou and Yuna appeared from the corner. "Fu, Itsuki, Karin! We're switching to the second floor!" As they were initially on the fourth floor, that brought them a lot closer to the theme park and snack bar, the former interesting to all of them, the latter primarily interesting to Fu.

Arriving at their room, Fu didn't quite know what to say. "I know we said _get a different room_ but we didn't mean **one** room!"

While the third to sixth floor were all western style rooms, the first and second floor were traditional Japanese inn-styled and designed for groups. _I am not going to be able to sleep if those two are in the same room! The suspense of whether they try to sneak in some lewd stuff is gonna kill me!_

"I don't see the issue here." Karin put down her bag and sat at the table, nonchalantly grabbing an apple and starting to eat it. Speaking with her mouth full, Karin looked around. "There's enough space for all of us and like four more people."

"Space isn't the only issue here!" Fu retorted and earned a funny look from Karin. "Don't give me that _what else is there_ look!"

"If you're worried about Yuna and me, we're _absolutely fine_." The black haired girl whispered in Fu's ear while Yuna was already undressing, sending Fu into a state of shock.

To the club captain's relief, she was just changing into her swimsuit, a bikini, that she had worn underneath all this time. Tougou found great entertainment in Fu's partly horrified and partly excited look.

Changing a little more discreetly than Yuna, in a corner of the room, Tougou joined her girlfriend and both of them were out of the room in a hurry, eager to get into the water and out of the heat. Not that the hotel was very hot, since it had air conditioning, but there was a limit to everything.

"Is there any point not just acknowledging that they're dating? We don't live in 1992 anymore, you know." Karin munched on her apple and sized up Fu.

"After **that**, no." Fu sighed and looked to Itsuki who was mostly unfazed. "Itsuki, that's kinda a shallow reaction."

Her sister was more startled by Fu suddenly saying that than Yuna and Tougou's behavior. "Sis, don't tell me you thought that Karin and I didn't know... they're so obvious." Itsuki smiled and started to take off her skirt. Apparently **everyone** was already wearing their swimsuits, Fu thought.

"I'll see if I can find Yuna and Tougou!" Itsuki vacated the room and left Fu and Karin all by their lonesome.

Just about tired of beating around the bush with a lot of things, Fu sat down at the table, right next to Karin, took a tangerine, and peeled it. "You know, if you want to go out with me, just say it. I'll even say yes."

Fu nearly **threw** the tangerine at Karin's face when she saw her expression, which Fu thought was stupid.

"Do you **want** to date me?" Karin wanted Fu to say it.

Fu thought about it for a moment. "You're okay with cuddling, kissing, and doing stuff with another girl?" Making a lewd face, Fu raised her hands in the air and made groping gestures.

Instinctively leaning away from Fu, just a bit, Karin had never really thought about whether she was _okay_ with it or not. The only dating couple she knew were Yuna and Tougou after all. "I wanna say yes but the way you look at me is worrying."

"Don't give me that." Fu's expression intensified and now she got up and grabbed Karin, putting her arms around the younger girl. "I'm not Yuna, I have **needs**." Fu joked around, suddenly thinking about Yuna and Tougou doing **all sorts** of lewd things together. If her head could have emitted steam, it surely would have.

Karin was not going to lose this one. "Good, I was hoping we saw things the same way." Moving far enough towards Fu that she was very much resting in her arms, Fu's breasts pushed through her clothes against Karin's back, giving Karin a rather soft and bouncy sensation.

Fu was quick to tease but just as quick to back up when things got a bit too wild. And this was wilder than a cheetah rushing at her with the speed of a race car. "O-Of course I'm not going to ask anything **too** drastic right away." Fu looked at Karin and figured out seconds later that it was just the girl's stubborn _I-have-to-win _streak talking again.

It was basically swim or sink now. Pushing Karin down and kneeling over her, Fu couldn't tell if she was sweating from the heat or the situation. The next few seconds happened so quickly that they were all a blur to Fu. Leaning down, seeing Karin shut her eyes so tightly that they could have imploded, their lips touched.

They both didn't have any experience whatsoever and it was a pretty awkward kiss but it was also confirmation for both of them. The first thing that came out of Fu's mouth right after she pulled back and Karin cautiously opened her eyes was, Fu thought in hindsight, **incredibly moronic** but she couldn't help it. "You kinda taste like apple."

"I just ate one, stupid." Karin said, all matter-of-fact, and blushed intensely. "You taste like sunflower oil."

_Must have been the snacks_, Fu thought and averted her eyes slightly. She was **still** kneeling over Karin when Itsuki and Yuna burst into the room, the former just accompanying Yuna, the latter looking for money to buy drinks.

Yuna could have sworn that, even transformed, they had never moved as quickly as then. Fu jumped up, grabbed her bag, shouted **dressing rooms** and vanished without a trace within all of three seconds while Karin just got up, took another apple, and pretended to not even exist, hoping that nobody would acknowledge her existence.

Yuna had enough tact to actually say nothing and just left, with a somewhat embarrassed Itsuki in tow. Out of the room and down the hallway, Yuna finally allowed herself to grin like an idiot. "Itsuki, remember that trip to the beach we had when we were still working with the Taisha?"

"The sleep over?"

"When I woke up way ahead of everyone, I saw Karin and Fu all cuddled up and thought they were getting really close. I was waiting for them to get together all this time."

"I didn't think Sis actually liked girls." Itsuki didn't find it weird, just a tad unexpected, with Fu always talking about girl power and everything.

"It probably isn't girls by default but Karin specifically. It's like that for Tougou and me."

They walked down to the lobby, out of the hotel and past the dressing rooms when Yuna spotted Fu, hiding and watching them very carefully, trying not to be seen. Heading around a corner, Yuna stopped, turned sideways and spied Fu running back to the hotel in what would probably put her up as a top contender for sexiest swimsuit.

Seeing Tougou getting out of the pool in the distance, Fu's _Megalopolis_ came to mind immediately and Yuna waved her over. "I think this trip will be great for all of us."


	3. Heroes on Vacation

**Heroes on Vacation  
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Tougou and Yuna were side by side, submerged into the water right up to their necks, secretly observing Fu and Karin, who were just walking past this particular pool, towards the area with the slides.

It wasn't quite on Tougou's level but Fu was producing a, for Karin, most satisfying bounce with every step because of the swimsuit she was wearing. "Do you see this, Mimori?" Yuna grinned and looked at her love from the corner of her eyes.

"I do see it. I even recognize where that swimsuit came from. It was sold in the shop we went to when those two were following us." Tougou figured that Fu didn't but a swimsuit that risque herself. "Karin must have bought it with the money the Taisha sends us."

"Daring." Yuna wanted to whistle but she thought it would be really inappropriate somehow. "She's super nervous. Just look at how much she looks around."

"I don't think that's because of the swimsuit. Ah, look, Karin is trying to take her hand. God, they're so adorable together." Tougou was not going to be able to take watching them much longer. When Karin gave up after Fu didn't notice her attempts, Tougou wanted to shout.

"She was so close. Fu you blockhead! Notice her already!" The words _notice me, senpai_ came to mind but Yuna couldn't quite place what manga she got them from.

Both of them kept watching as if they were enchanted. Just as Fu and Karin were about to leave the area, a bunch of guys walked up to the two and one of the guys, a tall foreigner, talked to them. "They're being hit on, aren't they?" Yuna was worried that Karin might hit someone.

"Totally being hit on. Oh wow." Tougou got up so fast that the resulting _boing_ was quite captivating but Yuna remained fixed on Fu and Karin, the former having taken Karin's hand and quickly walking back the way they had come.

The guys now walking after them, Fu stopped as they were halfway around the pool and Tougou could hear her shout all the way to the middle of the pool, right through the ambient noise of water and people playing in the water. "Leave me and my girlfriend alone, jerk!"

When a gust of wind hit Tougou she finally realized she was standing upright and in full view of Fu, if the girl had turned, and quickly got back on her knees, hiding in the water. "Fu just shouted that Karin is her girlfrien- oh oh, Yuna, we better go- Yuna?"

One of the guys had grabbed Fu by her wrist and not three seconds later had let go of said wrist because Karin had kicked him off his feet and thrown into the water. "Step back, Fu. People like those don't get it until you beat... it... into..." Karin's words were trailing when the remaining guys literally ran away, terrified of the brute girl.

"You didn't have to **throw** him, you know." Fu was now seriously blushing over Karin being protective of her and it was embarrassing her to the bone.

"I can't stand types like that and I was gonna kick his ass if he came back." Karin wasn't quite as embarrassed by the actual act but seeing Fu make a big fuss over it did wonders, and now she was uncomfortably taking Fu's hand and pulling her away.

Yuna breathed a sigh of relief that things had not escalated and almost shrieked when someone groped her from behind. "You were right there, ready to step in, right?" Tougou put her arms around Yuna's waist and pulled her backwards. "Looks like Fu is in capable hands." Tougou mused and earned a happy smile from Yuna.

A good hour later, Itsuki was lounging near a rather quiet pool, reading a book until a distraught and restless Fu sat down next to her. "This is bad. This is really bad." Fu muttered.

Itsuki, full in her role of the mute to drive away guys that were hitting on her, reached for the scratch book before remembering that she could actually talk. "What's wrong, Sis?"

"It's Karin. It's just... I don't know, in any case, it's bad." Fu realized that she wasn't making much sense but the words just didn't come together.

"Sis, I'm pretty sure that Karin being stronger than you is not something so terrible." Itsuki knew that look on her sister's face. She wasn't actually distraught about anything, just making a big deal out of nothing. Cutting Fu off when she opened her mouth, Itsuki raised her finger. "And don't even start about being older and stuff! You should be glad you even found a girlfriend!"

Fu's expression changed to slightly annoyed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Itsuki was suddenly put on the spot. She hadn't quite meant to say it like that. "Well, you're popular as a helper and friend but as dating potential..."

"That's not the case at all! How would you even know that?" Fu was not getting real curious about this.

"People talk, Sis..." Itsuki sighed. "They especially talk when someone walks around with an eye-patch and does chuuni quotes all day." _And they didn't care about me listening because they thought I couldn't say anything_.

"That eye-patch is super fashionable! And who the heck's a chuuni?! I'll-" Fu went _Kyah_ when something cold touched her back. Karin had returned with drinks.

"Karin!" Flying into her girlfriend's arms, Fu sought confirmation that she wasn't someone with eight grader syndrome. "I'm not a chuuni, am I?"

"No comment." Even Karin could see a landmine the size of a football field. "Here." Putting the cold drink against Fu's cheek, Karin didn't quite get the response she hoped for.

"I'm never talking to the two of you again." Fu let go of Karin and stomped off, only getting about ten meters away before stomping back, grabbing **both** of the drinks Karin had brought and stomping off again, frowning as hard as she could.

"She isn't serious, is she?" Karin was still very helpless at the whole dating business but she felt like she was definitely getting the hang of it.

"Let her be for an hour and she'll be fine." Itsuki said and went back to her book. A minute later, she had read the same passage four times because Karin was just standing there, looking in the general direction of where Fu had walked off to. "Uhm, Karin, she'll be fine. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried." Karin lied right through her teeth.

Itsuki didn't feel very comfortable asking but she thought that it was her job to fix the kinda broken Karin before Yuna and Tougou would show up. "What do you like about my sis, Karin?"

"What do I like about her..."

Itsuki realized immediately what a horrible question that was to ask Karin. The poor girl was visibly overheating trying to find the right words and those same words refusing to come out because she didn't want to admit them to herself.

A good two hundred meters away, Fu sat at the edge of a pool and sulked. "That stupid Karin... I'm totally not a chuuni. It just went well with the eye-patch and we **are** the hero club, so what's the arm in acting like it for a bi-" Fu fell right into the pool because someone shoved her. Surfacing and glaring at the offender, Fu cursed. "Why you little- Yuna! What was that for?!"

Tougou pinched Yuna's cheek and gave her a scolding look. "She's upset you just walked away from Karin like that."

"That's between Karin and me. That's none of your business." Fu pouted and averted her eyes.

"Yuna, could you get me something to drink? I'm completely dehydrated." Tougou felt that this needed a delicate touch and Yuna was a bit too upset right now to be diplomatic with Fu.

Fu climbed out of the pool, reluctantly taking Tougou's hand when she offered it, and sat down on a bench with Tougou. "How do you and Yuna do it?"

Tougou blushed a bit and her body language made it clear to Fu that she got the wrong idea. "Not **that!**" Fu blushed even more. "How do you agree so much with each other?"

"I feel that this conversation should wait until you've actually had a real fight with Karin. You just ran off because she said something you didn't agree with, right?"

"She took Itsuki's side. I think." Fu pouted again and suddenly felt rather silly.

"You tease Karin out of all of us the most and when she doesn't take your side once you run off. That's not very much like a club president, Fu."

Rather silly became very silly and was joined by a stinging embarrassment. "I know. It's just kinda... isn't it weird if things between Karin and me stay the way they were before we came here?"

"You mean before we caught you kissing in the hotel room?" Tougou grinned and a very embarrassed Fu glared. "Don't worry, we won't tell a soul at school. And to answer your question, it's great if you can go on like before. You shouldn't try to imitate Yuna and me." _Although Karin is likely trying exactly that_.

"I feel like an idiot now."

There was an awkward silence of about fifteen seconds before Fu looked to Tougou, who was politely looking away. "Ah, I get it, I'm a big idiot!"

"You and Karin make a nice fit, Fu. Just stop trying to rush into things and force yourself to act all like a couple." Tougou spotted Yuna coming back and finished up her little talk with Fu. "There's no need to apologize to her, just buy something to drink, go back and give it to her." Smirking, Tougou whispered something before getting up. _You might even get a kiss out of it._

Forty minutes later, Karin and Fu were panting heavily, barely able to stand. "I think... that was... one time... too often." Fu's sides were killing her.

"Heh, you're just not... in good shape."

"You're as out of breath as I am!" Fu argued and coughed twice from talking too fast.

"Next!" The voice in front of them shouted and both of them moved up. "Together? Separate?"

"Together." Fu said without even the tiniest blush and they received a large inflatable double ring shaped like an eight. Moving up the last stairs, they stood in line behind tons of other couples, a few of them same gender, too.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" They decided who got to sit in front and Karin won, the third time in a row. "Aw crud, you're cheating, aren't you!"

"I have really good reflexes. But I think I'm done sliding after this, so you go to the front." Karin looked directly at Fu and the two traded places, both of them carrying the large inflatable ring together.

They were both quiet, still out of breath, for a good minute, slowly advancing in line, when they saw Tougou and Yuna on a platform below them, in line for another slide. "Can you imagine how much Tougou would _bounce_ if she went first on this slide?"

"A lot." Karin smiled and gently poked Fu's arm, who turned around.

Without any warning, Karin kissed her right there in public. Nobody saw, as they were the last in line for now, but Fu blushed quite intensely nonetheless. "I don't really care about Tougou's chest though." Fu recovered quickly and grinned. "Maybe a little."

Tougou had been right, Fu thought. This was so much better than forcing some kind of couple behavior that she had thought she needed to conform to.

Fu notice that the large clock in the center of the park was showing that it was already 5:30. The hotel opened the evening buffet at point seven. "Dinner in ninety minutes. Wanna laze around in our room for a bit before we go eat?" Because quite frankly, Fu felt like a used sponge and she needed to treat her hair to avoid it getting too damaged.

"Okay." Karin gave a simple answer and nodded to the front. "Two more and we're up. Should we tell Yuna and Tougou that we're heading back after this?"

Instead of answering that, Fu leaned over the rail and started shouting. "Yuna! Tougou! Karin and me are going back to get dry before the evening buffet."

Yuna spotted Fu first and waved back. "We're going back too! See you there in fifteen minutes or so!" Yuna then talked to Tougou while Fu was pulled back by Karin.

"Don't do that, that's dangerous. If you slip I don't know if I could catch you without my powers."

"Speaking of which, I am gonna miss our hero outfits." Fu grinned. "You looked really good in yours. Like a knight."

"Well, I did fight with swords. You looked more like the main character of a light novel. I wish we could wear them casually every now and then." Karin didn't miss the fighting anymore, but she did miss being a **real** hero.

"I'm sure we could make them ourselves." Thinking about Tougou's outfit, Fu snickered. "Yuna would totally be on board with this."

"Because Tougou's outfit was really showing off her chest?" Karin stated all matter-of-fact like and only awkwardly blushed when the mental image arrived. "I see now why you would say that. You pay a lot of attention to breasts, Fu." Looking down on herself, Karin figured that this was a battle she would never, ever, win.

"Eh?" Fu was caught off guard by a statement like that. And seeing Karin act like she was questioning if her breasts were big enough for Fu, the blonde tried to be reassuring, got a little too close and whispered in Karin's ear. _Why don't I show you later that I like yours even more_?

When Fu backed away, expecting another matter-of-fact answer, she was even more caught off guard when Karin just stood there, stunned, with a bright red face. _Goddammit, now I can't even say I was just joking to make her feel better!_

At least this wasn't entirely unknown territory, but still!

One turbulent water-slide ride later, Karin and Fu handed in the inflatable ring, picked up their new towels, one yellow, one red, which they had bought at the park shop earlier, and headed towards the hotel. Most of the customers were heading to the dressing rooms instead, probably about to go home. There couldn't have been more than ten percent of the people actually staying at the hotel.

Halfway on the way back, Fu took Karin's hand and they kept holding hands all the way to their room, where Itsuki opened the door for them after Fu and Karin realized that Tougou, Yuna and Itsuki had the three keys.

The youngest of the five had already changed out of her swimsuit into casual clothes and there was a nice breeze in the room since the wind had picked up and Itsuki had opened the window. Ten minutes later, Tougou and Yuna also showed up. Karin and Fu were slouching at the table, both a bit nervous because of what Fu had said earlier and Itsuki's presence keeping them from exploring said option.

While Fu and Karin had gone into the bathroom to change one after another, Yuna and Tougou, now that they were pretty open about dating, just went in together. Fu was peeling a tangerine when Karin got up, took her wallet from her bag and walked over to Fu. She absolutely wouldn't lose to Yuna and Tougou in regards to being a couple! Kneeling next to her and kissing her on the cheek, Karin blushed a tiny bit before getting up again. "I'm going to the shop. I saw something I wanted earlier but didn't have enough money on me. Be back in a bit."

The moment Karin was out the door, Itsuki whistled and grinned at her sister. "You two are all love love! Woo woo!"

"I think we're having a bad influence on you, Itsuki..." Fu lamented while her sister was giggling to herself quite a lot.

Karin still wasn't back when Tougou and Yuna came out of the bathroom. Fu didn't want to think about what they were doing in there **beside** changing but as it turned out, so Tougou claimed, she just had trouble getting out of her swimsuit since it stuck to her chest quite a bit.

"Where's your girlfriend, Fu?" Yuna asked when she noticed the girl's absence.

"Don't tease her, Yuna." Tougou smiled. "But where **is** Karin?"

"She went to the shop."

"They totally kissed before she left." Itsuki whispered as loud as she could to Tougou and Yuna.

"Itsuki! My own flesh and blood, betraying me!" Fu still wasn't all that comfortable with being a couple in front of Yuna and Tougou.

"Now, now." Tougou was growing into the role of the mediator and she liked it.

In that moment, the door opened and Karin came back, carrying a small plastic bag with something light weight in it. "There's a lot of very classy dressed people about all of a sudden. I think we might be a bit lacking in clothes for this place." Karin didn't seem concerned.

"They have a rental service on the first floor. They probably don't have much in our size because we're still in school but we could always try." They certainly had enough money for that due to the Taisha.

"Well, there's still time. Anyone want to play some cards?" Fu hastily changed the topic because Karin in a dress was something she wanted to savor, later, without thinking too much about it now.

"Sure." Yuna was first on board, with Tougou a close second. Karin reluctantly sat down next to Fu and Itsuki took her place at the end of the table. It seemed just kinda right to leave the long sides to the couples.

Tougou was infuriatingly good at all manners of card games apparently and that drove particularly Fu and Karin nuts. Yuna was feeling slightly bad that her partner won _every single game_ but what was she to do?

After thirty minutes of playing cards, Fu and Karin voted to play something else but nobody had anything other than a deck of cards with them. "We'll go to the shop and try to find something for later. When we get back, let's go to the dress rental, okay?" Fu used **we** unintentionally and only noticed when Tougou and Yuna grinned at her.

The two were barely out the door when Tougou leaned on the table, looking rather amused. "Karin took the small bag she brought from the shop with her. I bet there is something for Fu in there."

"Sis seemed really happy." Itsuki said out loud.

Outside, just past the lobby, Karin was walking next to Fu. There weren't many people around as most of the park's attractions were now closed albeit a select few would operate all the way through the night. Reaching into the bag, Karin put something on her face before reaching into the bag again and handing the other one to Fu. "Here. I had this stupid all medical looking one before but this time we match."

Fu needed a second to actually see what Karin was holding. Realizing it, she groaned and laughed, especially after seeing that Karin was wearing hers already. "That one looks even crazier than the one I had before!" Taking the eye-patch, Fu closed her left eye and put the eye-patch on, a familiar but slightly odd feeling.

"It suits you." Karin tried hard to think of one of those quotes Fu used to do but came up empty.

"We probably look totally silly." Fu grinned but it was a happy grin. This must be Karin's way of apologizing for not taking her side earlier that day, Fu thought. It was really sweet. "But thanks."

"Fu." Karin took Fu's hand and slowed down a little until the next corner, where she took the blonde behind a large decorative wooden wall.

Nobody could see them there and there they shared their first, **real**, kiss, fingers intertwined and eyes closed.


	4. Braving the Unknown

**Braving the Unknown**

"Tougou, can't you do something about the nosiness of your wife?" Fu complained while she was getting ready.

"Eh, what's the harm in telling me?"

"You already know, don't you! It's not like there could be many reasons why I leave without a big blue mark on my neck and come back with one there!" Fu looked over to Karin who was trying to look apologetic but didn't quite get it right.

Putting the tips of her fingers over her lips, Yuna giggled. "Oh my."

"Stop it, you're not Tougou." Fu was weirded out.

"Eh, congratulations then!" Yuna fell back to her usual behavior but that didn't help.

"Yuna, Fu has a point, what those two do when they're alone is none of our business." Tougou didn't need to physically do anything to pull Yuna away. "But I recommend that you're a little bit more careful. That there-" Tougou pointed to the deep blue spot on the side of Fu's neck. "Is very obviously a girl's hickey."

"Tougou, that reminds me of that time when I accidentally left you with one near your-" Yuna closed her mouth so quickly when she saw Tougou's look that it looked comical.

Twenty minutes later, Fu was the last to get ready and had insisted on changing her hairstyle a bit to hide the hickey, muse to Yuna's and Tougou's amusement, they all arrived at the rental shop. There was a reserve payment in case the dresses got damaged but other than that it was free for guests that were staying the night.

Their choices were a bit limited by their age and height, but they all found something nice. Tougou opted for a long, blue dress while Yuna went with a similar one that was a gentle pink and had frills at the bottom and the back.

Fu had picked a Chinese dress, a Cheongsam that was a bright yellow with a tiger motive on the back. Karin had initially opted for something simpler but Itsuki had covertly shown her a fitting Cheongsam that was bright red, Karin's color, and fitting pretty well. When Karin came around, after trying the dress on and coming back out of the small cabin, she saw Itsuki showing her a thumbs up.

_What a shrewd little sister you have, Fu_, Karin thought and smiled. Itsuki was going with a pale green dress that seemed to be made more for an elegant evening stroll at the beach that a dinner but it had a very nice sunflower motive and worked well.

The dinner hall was a lot more elegant than most hotels but still far less so than the girls expected. And most people were not nearly as well dressed as they were. "It feels like everyone is watching us. It's making me nervous." Karin said. She didn't do too well with big crowds.

Fu and Karin stood just a little behind Tougou and Yuna, and, just subtle enough, Fu took Karin's hand, a sign that said both _I'm nervous too_ and _I'm here with you_. Karin whispered an answer to that gesture. "I didn't know you could be so sweet."

"Learning from the master over there." Fu grinned, nodding just ever so slightly to Tougou's back. It was hard to tell from where Karin stood, but those two were definitely holding hands too.

Contrary to their feelings and expectations, nobody paid more attention to them than usual. People came, went, ate and returned to the buffet to eat some more. They found two tables close to each other that were free and sat there. Tougou and Yuna had their own table while Itsuki sat across her sister, Karin next to Fu.

The dinner was, again contrary to all expectations, very uneventful. The food was great, but according to Yuna the desert was not nearly as good as Tougou's sweets, and after spending roughly an hour eating, talking about inconsequential things like other people at dinner and what they had been doing over the day and just enjoying the atmosphere, they left.

"It's a shame to just go back all dressed." Yuna was walking backwards just slightly in front of Tougou while Karin was feeling not so good after eating too much crab and eel and, together with Fu, falling behind a bit.

"Yes, but we're not old enough to go to the hotel bar and Karin seems to be headed for a rough night."

"I-I'm fine, don't worry about me. T-This is nothing. I-I-" Karin suppressed a burp and felt even more sick afterward.

"Don't worry, I'll get her out of that dress and into bed without any accidents." Fu watched how Yuna and Tougou were showing a very snide expressions on their faces. "You know what I meant! Both of you! Geez, you're terrible!" Fu got a bit louder and blushed.

"Don't w-worry about me, Fu. Just go have fun with them." Karin didn't want to be a bother.

"It's more fun to be with a sick you than go elsewhere without you and if they had a circus there." Fu said while slightly embarrassed.

Itsuki had heard it and smiled. "Oh my, what a loving wife my sister has become."

"Why you, Itsuki!" Fu couldn't get seriously upset at her little sister, even when she got teased.

They managed to return the dresses without too much trouble. Itsuki went back to the room only to pick up a book and read outside on the balcony with a small but bright lamp, while Yuna and Tougou took a stroll through the now mostly closed park, enjoying the sights in the light of dusk.

Karin felt a lot better after resting in bed for about an hour, during which Fu had kept by her side, listening to music, reading, passing time in various ways but always keeping Karin company. "Toilet." Karin got up on her own and walked to the bathroom but could feel Fu scanning her back to see if she was gonna fall over. "I'm fine, don't worry."

Itsuki was spying on them from the balcony, happy that her sister had found someone to care about like that.

After a hot shower that lasted over thirty minutes, Karin returned to the room, steaming and very much feeling better. Fu was laying flat on her stomach, on Karin's futon, reading manga and almost shrieked when Karin sat down on her back. "You look like a middle schooler like this."

"I **am** a middle schooler and so are you!" Fu retorted and tried to look at Karin over her shoulder.

"You'll be in high school next year and I'll be left behind."

"If you get lonely, you could move in with us." Itsuki had appeared out of nowhere, suddenly kneeling next to the couple.

"Oh my, things seem to have gotten quite serious while we were gone, Yuna." Tougou and Yuna had showed up as well, tired of walking around and quite tired in general as well.

"Itsuki was just joking." Fu grumbled and looked at her manga again, just letting Karin continue to sit on her back.

"If Tougou didn't live right next to me, I would still totally be staying over at her place all the time." Yuna said as if it was a badge of honor to be so much in love.

"**Still**?" Karin wondered out loud and that made even the composed Tougou blush a little.

It was, by now, completely dark outside and very little noise came in through the open balcony door. "I'm a bit tired, so I think I'll head to bed early today. We can take it easy tomorrow." Tougou looked at Karin. "And maybe eat a little less."

"T-That was the eel. I just didn't take it well." Karin would never admit to eating too much.

"Maybe I'll go to sleep right where I am." Fu said out loud and earned another of those _My, how lewd_ reactions from Yuna and Tougou. But by now she was not only used but also kinda tired of it. "You two really think about nothing else."

"Eh, we think about each other all day, right Tougou?" Yuna looked lovestruck to her girlfriend.

"Very much so, Yuna." Tougou replied and smiled.

Karin finally got off Fu and laid down next to her, reading the same manga and being generally awfully close. So close that Fu sometimes had to read a speech bubble twice or thrice because she felt Karin's breath on her arm.

Yuna and Tougou stopped teasing the two and started to pull out more Futons. Itsuki struggled a little with the weight but before Fu could get up, Yuna had already helped her. They moved the table to a corner of the room to make more space. Itsuki was close to the balcony door, a good meter between her own futon, Karin's and Tougou's. Yuna blatantly put her futon so close to Tougou's that they combined into one large one.

Karin saw this and her _I won't lose_ mentality made her pull out Fu's futon and imitate Yuna. "Karin, isn't that... a little close." Fu couldn't help but be nervous. It was obvious why Karin was doing this, because she didn't want to lose to Yuna and Tougou in being a couple, but she was definitely not ready for this.

"We've slept next to each other before." Karin had rather fond memories of that trip. Especially about beating Fu in swimming.

"Yeah but we weren't a couple then." Fu whispered and blushed a little.

"I-I'm not saying we should _do_ anything, Fu. Maybe... hold hands." Karin was so innocent that Fu felt her heart ache. The girl was so sweet but so awkward at the same time!

Yuna left for the bathroom first, leaving Tougou behind, which seemed like quite a rare occurrence. Pulling out a historical novel about the sengoku period, Tougou started to read. The futons were so close together it really looked like a futon for newlyweds.

"Tougou, how long have you and Yuna-" Fu looked for the right word.

"Been together?" Tougou finished that question for her. "Hm, I don't really know. We got really close even before we joined the hero club, but after we transformed for the first time, we took it a step further, so I guess since then." Tougou had a very gentle expression when she continued. "You're only in middle school, Fu. You haven't missed anything. Neither has Karin." _Especially since you're both former heroes so you can talk about anything._

Both of them looked kinda put on the spot and embarrassed. Tougou couldn't see it but Fu carefully took Karin's hand, locking fingers with her. "Should I move your futon back?" Karin asked.

"No, it's fine." _I wouldn't mind more than holding hands now, though_. Fu grinned to herself. Yuna returned from the bathroom, changed into pajamas.

Tougou went next and Yuna crawled into her futon. Laying down and looking at the ceiling, Yuna suddenly spoke up. "I'm happy for you two. I was worried that with being heroes and everything, you two wouldn't find anyone since we're usually so busy and, well, we know what it's like out there."

"Yuna..." Fu was a little moved. Those two really did care.

A loud and very cute yawn from Itsuki interrupted the somewhat touching mood. "Sorry, I'm just really tired."

"This is because you kept her up all night." Karin said and smirked.

"I get excited easily, okay!" Fu defended herself and there was Yuna's dirty grin again. "**Yuna**!"

"Did you hear that, Karin? She get's excited easily, she says! Better watch out where you touch or you'll set her off." Yuna overshot her mark by a lot and watched Karin turn red as a tomato. "O-oh. I was just teasing you, Karin. I don't think it's... erm..." _Tougou! Help!_

"O-Of course I know that." Karin tried to get her act together but she failed midway.

A moment of awkward silence followed until the noise of Itsuki writing on her scratchpad got their attention. She wrote down _Sis really gets excited easily. The other night- _Itsuki had run out of space and Fu groaned. "Itsuki! Stop giving them the wrong ideas!"

The little sister finished the second page which even had a small emote on it. _She found a secret in a video game and played all night_.

Karin and Yuna visibly breathed sighs of relief. "You two, what do you take me for?!" Fu growled, horribly exaggerated, causing the other three to start laughing. "And Itsuki, why do you still use the note pad?"

"Because it's funny." Was the simple answer which made Yuna laugh even harder and Karin grin at her girlfriend. "See, Karin understands."

"Betrayed by blood and love!" Fu overplayed and pouted.

Tougou returned just then and Fu used that chance to take her turn with the bathroom.

Karin felt a little abandoned but Yuna and Tougou didn't tease her at all. Instead, Tougou went back to her novel and Yuna and laid down next to her, procuring a small MP3 player from somewhere within the futon and listening to music on one ear.

They looked so naturally belonging together to Karin that she became a little envious. She wanted to be like that with Fu as well. But oddly enough she didn't feel that she was losing to them, like she usually would. Maybe it was because of what they each had said.

Seven minutes later, that felt much longer to Karin, Fu returned and Itsuki went into the bathroom, leaving Karin for last. Fu read more manga and Karin joined her until Itsuki came back. Taking the chance and kissing Fu on the cheek before she got up, Karin almost hovered to the other room, feeling quite elevated.

"Can I turn off the lights?" Karin asked when she came back out.

Everyone agreed, in fact Itsuki was already asleep despite the light being on, and Karin turned off the light, stumbled over a bag on her way to Fu, or rather her own futon, and crawled into it. Now that she was actually laying right next to Fu and the room got really, really quiet, she could hear and feel Fu's breathing.

A little embarrassed to actually follow through on her own suggestion, Karin slowly reached out into her love's futon and hit very soft and bouncy resistance much earlier than expected. A finger was put on her lips and an arm moved around her waist and then she was pulled into a warm embrace. "Be really quiet." Fu whispered right into Karin's ear.

Their futons were so close together that they functioned as one and now they were both laying together in the middle. One way or another, Karin's hand still found her way to Fu's and they locked fingers again. Being of the same height and getting used to the dark in the room, Fu and Karin could see that they were very intently looking at each other.

Fu had one arm around Karin's waist and the other right between them, holding Karin's hand, while Karin's free arm went over Fu's waist, resting just slightly on her back. "Comfortable?" Fu whispered.

Every time Fu breathed in, Karin could feel their chests touching just a little bit. But despite her expectations she didn't get horny from it. It was comforting instead. "Yeah." Karin whispered back.

What felt like the entire night passed by before Fu, heavily blushing, got even closer and kissed Karin, first softly, testing if she was okay with it and then stronger, when the kiss was returned with a bit of fervor.

Love really was a hurricane, Fu thought. Not too long ago, she saw Karin as just another club member, a friend. And now she was exchanging passionate kisses with her in bed, in the dark, just a meter away from her little sister and friends, and she still thought it was totally worth the risk of being found out and teased to oblivion.

She was totally in love with Karin.


	5. Heroes in the Night

**Heroes in the Night**

Despite it being rather comfortable, Karin and Fu couldn't fall asleep. They had progressed from nothing to sleeping with each other in practically a day. If they couldn't spell breakneck speed before, now they could.

"We're...doing the right thing, right?" Karin wondered out loud. Not too loudly, but rather, whispered out loud.

"What do you mean?" Fu pulled Karin's head towards her chest and smelled her hair. It was pretty nice.

"Tougou and Yuna took a lot longer to start dating." They were Karin's only point of reference for this sort of thing. "And in manga and novels they're always going on about taking it slow and stuff."

"And then they never get a resolution or have tons of stupid drama." Fu kissed Karin on the forehead. "We're doing good. I think. At least I can't imagine better than this."

Karin hummed and closed her eyes again, enjoying that Fu was keeping her so close. Fu took it as a sign to finally try and go to sleep. A few minutes of just quietly laying there passed before Fu opened her eyes again. _Goddammit, I can't fall asleep with Karin next to me like that. I kinda wanna do lewd stuff to her. But I've never even thought about this before. Sure, I know what feels good for __**me**__ but..._

Karin was having her own thoughts. _I wanted to be the leading one so what am I doing just curling up next to her? Shouldn't I reach for her breasts or something? But I've only ever done stuff on my own..._

Occupied with thinking thoughts like that, they passed another ten minutes. A few times, Karin auspiciously moved but then chickened out and it looked to Fu like she was just moving in her sleep. Fu was doing much the same, reaching for Karin's butt a few times but simply resting her hand on her back instead because she didn't quite manage to work out the courage to go all the way.

After thirty minutes of staying awake and continuously getting more and more nervous and insecure about what to do, they got startled by Tougou suddenly letting out a moan, followed immediately by muffled talking.

They both instantly froze and got even more nervous, laying there like sticks, totally stiff. Neither of the two noticed that the other was occasionally holding her breath because they were too busy being nervous. They thought the exact same thing. _Are they having sex? Here?!_

Tougou moaned again and this time the talking was a little clearer. "Yuna... your tongue..."

There was a lot of rustling, as if someone was throwing the futon through the room, and then an answer from Yuna followed. "Did I get better?"

"Yeah... lots..." Tougou sighed. "But we need to be quiet. Karin and Fu finally fell asleep."

They were, in fact, not asleep at all. If anything, they were as far away from sleeping as absolutely possible now.

"I expected them to make out at least." Yuna's voice carried a bit of amusement. After that, kissing noises followed, first quietly, then getting more sloppy and intense.

Fu was the first to instinctively move her hands and Karin was startled to suddenly find Fu's hands on her butt, holding her breath. Fu wasn't **doing** anything, she just kept her hands there.

The noises from Yuna and Tougou got a little more intense before they died down completely for a good minute. "Wasn't Fu a messy sleeper? She isn't moving around at all," Tougou said and a very suppressed giggle followed.

"She's snuggled up with Karin. That kept her still on our last trip, too." A lot of rustling followed that comment and Tougou moaned and Fu could _tell_ that she was covering her own mouth and still couldn't suppress it entirely.

And then it hit Fu like a sack of bricks. The rustling was Yuna **under** the futon entirely, probably about halfway down on Tougou. Thankfully it was really dark in the room or Karin would've seen her scarlet red face.

Karin and Fu silently listened to Tougou and Yuna going at it for a few more minutes before they got pretty turned on themselves. Fu's breath stopped completely when she felt Karin's hand move under her pajamas and up her stomach. Looking down and seeing that Karin was looking up, she instinctively knew where Karin's lips were.

While Tougou's voice got even messier, Karin and Fu managed to maintain complete silence during their long and soft kiss. Fu was the one to take initiative and started using her tongue, which scared Karin off. Without words, Karin collected herself for a moment and got closer to Fu's face again, kissing her normally.

Fu didn't try using her tongue again and, after a few seconds, Karin squeezed her hand, smiling into the kiss. They froze as if hit by a freeze ray when a futon that **wasn't** Tougou's suddenly rustled a lot and someone got up. Fu's heart was beating like a jackhammer and she could feel that Karin was much the same.

"Toilet..." Itsuki muttered to herself and stumbled through the room, accidentally stepping on Yuna's futon. "Sorry Yuna... Yuna?" Rubbing her eyes, Itsuki only saw Tougou laying there, sweating intensely. Too sleepy to make the connection, Itsuki walked past them towards the bathroom.

The second the door closed, Tougou exhaled loudly, her breathing ragged. Rustling followed, likely Yuna coming out from under the futon. "Fu? Karin?" Tougou inquired in as quiet a voice as she could muster.

The two gave no answer. If Tougou found out that they had heard **everything**, she would be super embarrassed and they didn't want to put her through that.

"Are they still asleep?" Yuna whispered, panting quite a bit.

"I think... so." Tougou said.

To reinforce that idea, Fu kicked the futon and grumbled. Karin had to pinch herself to keep from laughing at that pathetic excuse for Fu moving in her sleep.

But Tougou and Yuna didn't inquire any further. "Were you close?" Yuna asked and Fu could hear that they kissed for a few seconds before an answer was given.

"A few seconds..." Tougou sounded really sensual to Fu and it turned her on a little.

"Should we stop?" More rustling, probably Yuna fixing her own futon or Tougou fixing hers.

"Better..."

There was an awkward pause and then more kissing noises. "I love you, Mimori." Yuna's voice was completely different than usual. Much gentler, caring, and even more sincere.

"I love you too, Yuna." Tougou on the other hand came off a little stronger than normal.

A few more seconds of rustling passed before the toilet was flushed in the bathroom. A brief glimmer of light from the bathroom illuminated the room. It was just barely enough for Karin and Fu to see how intensely they were blushing from hearing all of that.

The light was gone but the thumping of hearts beating remained. Itsuki went through the room again, not even taking notice of Yuna being next to Tougou now, and crawled back into her futon. She was back to sleep within a minute.

Karin allowed herself to calm down a little but the excitement refused to go away. And she could tell that Fu felt the same because the blonde still had her hands on Karin's butt.

Taking the first step and clinging to Fu a little more, Karin moved her hand up and with that pulled Fu's pajamas up as well, shying back just as she reached Fu's breasts. She couldn't see much in the dark but she looked up in anticipation.

And as if they were telepathically connected, Fu moved her hands to Karin's waist and pushed her away a little, just enough to pull herself up and get on top of her girlfriend. In the process, her pajamas slid down again but that was intentional. Her lips brushing Karin's ear, Fu whispered so softly that the words were almost lost. _Just a little_.

Taking Karin's hand and squeezing it tightly, Fu felt a jolt of electricity go through her when their bodies pushed against each other. Two slender arms circled around her neck and a second later, soft lips met her own.

Karin's heart was bursting out of her chest when Fu got on top of her. She wasn't heavy but their breasts pushed against each other and Fu's right leg was between her own, long and thick strands of blonde hair touching her shoulders and tickling a little, smelling, to Karin, wonderful.

Their kiss lasted for over a minute before Fu broke away, panting a little. She smiled and turned her head away a little when Karin kissed the side of her neck. _Screw taking it slow_, Fu thought, _This is great_.

As they kissed and laid there, they both calmed down slowly instead of getting hornier. When Karin yawned into a kiss, Fu rolled off her and immediately pulled her into an embrace, whispering important words. She couldn't say **that** yet, it was just too soon, but she could go for the next best thing. _I really like you_.

And Karin whispered back, taking Fu's hand again and holding it as if she intended to never let go again. _I like you too._

With a happy expression, Karin closed her eyes and rested her head against Fu's shoulder. Within a minute, she was fast asleep. Fu followed her into dream land seconds later.

When Fu woke up again, she had one hand under Karin's pajamas on her back and her other one was still tightly connected to Karin's hand. What woke her up was the noise of someone showering in the bathroom. Taking a look around, Yuna was still sound asleep but her lover was gone. Itsuki was already up and quietly reading a book on the balcony in the morning sun.

Itsuki noticed that her sister was awake, waved, and smiled to her before writing something on her notepad and holding it up. _Good Morning_ followed by _Breakfast starts in 40 minutes_.

That was plenty of time to get up, wash up, get dressed, and still stay in bed for a few more minutes to snuggle with Karin.

Looking at the sleeping Karin, Fu smiled so widely and she suddenly thought _Wow, I didn't know being in love was like this_. She was as happy now as she had been when Itsuki had started to get her voice back.

Snuggling with Karin, Fu suddenly felt watched, looked up, and saw Itsuki holding up her notepad on the balcony. _Way to go, Casanova!_

Fu blushed and looked away only to see Yuna up but still in her futon, laying flat on her stomach, watching Fu and grinning broadly. "Mo-r-ning, Fu." Yuna said and looked at Karin. "Someone's fallen hard for our Karin here."

"You and Tougou are basically the same life form now. I didn't know you two could be separated at all." Fu teased back, causing both of them to laugh.

That in turn caused Karin to wake up with a loud yawn. "Fu...?" was the first thing she said, still rubbing her eyes.

"I guess it's mutual then." Yuna smiled and rolled out of her futon to stretch. It was still early, seven in the morning, but it was a great day already. She was looking forward to all-you-can-eat pancakes.

"What?" Karin looked at Yuna, then at Fu, who kissed her on the cheek. "Fu. Morning." A bright smile, one that made Fu's morning better still.

Tougou returned from the bathroom just then, walked up to Yuna, put her right hand just under Yuna's chin, raised her head a little, and kissed her. "Morning, sleepyhead."

Fu felt like she should be blushing but didn't. Sitting up properly, Karin turned around and rested in Fu's arms, sitting slightly in front of her, still a bit tired. Not as tired as she was hungry, though, as her stomach announced with a loud growl. "Where can we get breakfast?"

Itsuki had the answer at hand as she walked by, flipping three pages. _Breakfast is same place as dinner yesterday_ and, flipping a page, _Breakfast in 40 minutes_ with the 40 crossed through and a 30 written beneath it.

"Itsuki, why are you using the notepad? Is something wrong with your voice?" Fu sounded a little worried.

"Oh, no, no, I just actually like this. It was a bit bothersome when I **had** to do it, but my voice is fine, Sis." Itsuki looked a bit embarrassed for worrying her sister.

"That's fine then." Fu was relieved. "Karin, go wash up. I don't wanna be late for breakfast."

"Why do you want me to go first?" Karin asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"Because if I leave you here you're totally going back to sleep."

_No, that's you, sis._ Itsuki wrote on her notepad and Fu terribly exaggerated her pout, making everyone laugh.

"Fine, I'll go." Fu got up but was held back by Karin holding her hand. Bending forward, Karin on her knees, the blonde received a quick kiss on the lips.

"Don't fall asleep in there." Karin teased her.

"Geez, every single one of you." Fu continued to pout and left for the bathroom.

"Wow, you two are totally in love." Yuna grinned widely while standing with Tougou.

"So what?" Karin got a little defensive and looked away.

"It's great. I'm happy for both of you." Tougou said.

Karin scratched her cheek and blushed a tiny bit.

They ended up late for breakfast regardless and decided to sit outside, where long tables were positioned next to benches. It was pretty packed and there were lines at the self-serve buffet so the girls split up. Tougou and Fu were to secure a bench and table outside while Yuna, Itsuki, and Karin were to get food.

"Itsuki, what food does Fu like?" Karin didn't really know about things like that just yet while Yuna knew almost every like and dislike of Tougou inside out.

"She's not a picky eater but she likes bread rolls with something sweet. Pancakes are good too. Just don't bring her any cheese, she can't stand that in the morning." For the sake of everyone involved, Itsuki held off on her little gag of using the notepad.

"Got it." Karin headed towards a different line with two separate trays and waited patiently. She was nutrition-focused in her usual breakfasts but eating pancakes every now and then wasn't so bad. After a good minute, Karin noticed that Yuna was actually standing behind her while Itsuki was in line for something more traditionally Japanese. "What are you getting for Tougou? She doesn't strike me as a pancake person."

"I'm going to Itsuki's line after this. That food gets cold faster so I'm getting it last." Yuna proved to be very considerate of her partner and Karin wondered if she would have thought that far.

"I see." Karin hated waiting in line and waiting around in general. Her turn was almost up when Itsuki walked past them, telling them she'd go ahead and tell the others they'll be there soon. "See you in a minute." Karin said and finally got to pick up her food.

A few minutes later, Fu was rather excited to have pancakes for breakfast and Itsuki winked at a happy looking Karin. "I'd never have thought you'd eat pancakes for breakfast." Fu was talking with her mouth full and still stuffing in more.

"Calm down, Fu. They refilled the buffet right after Yuna got hers, so if you want more I can just go again."

"She could go herself but you're offering to go for her? Woo woo!" Yuna teased Karin again and promptly got the reaction she wanted.

"I-It's not like that. I might want more myself, you know?!"

Karin calmed down when Fu, slipping out of her sandals, rubbed her foot against Karin's, a little odd but cute gesture that meant _thanks_. "What about you, Yuna? You went back to get Tougou a different tea, didn't you?"

"Why wouldn't I do that for my girlfriend?" Yuna boasted and fed Tougou a piece of pancake with her own fork.

"It's still a total mystery to me how you two managed to keep your relationship a secret for so long." Karin sighed and looked to Fu, who was holding out some pancake on a fork. "I have my own, you know..." Karin muttered and quickly plucked the sweet dough from Fu's fork. It was **extra** sweet for some reason.

"We're very good at keeping secrets." Tougou said and looked at Yuna. "But since the cat is out of the bag, there's no reason to hide it anymore."

Fu was reminded of last night and blushed a little, but quickly covered it by stuffing her face with pancake, finishing her plate, and shoving it slightly away from her. "I'm so full..."

"Sis will eat sweet stuff until she is about to explode, Karin. You shouldn't overfeed her, she'll get fat." Itsuki smiled and dodged her sister's glare by looking away.

"I won't get fat! I just need a lot of energy!" Fu pouted again and felt Karin rub her foot against her leg.

"Want a rematch on that swimming contest from our last trip, later maybe?" Karin offered, thinking it would be a nice exercise and give them some alone time.

"You should do that. But I bet Karin is gonna waste you again, Fu!" Yuna laughed when Fu pretended to be all upset.

"No, no, she's gonna let me win because she's my girlfriend. Right, Karin?" Fu looked up at her partner with hopeful eyes.

"Not in your dreams, fatty." Karin smirked and left two pancakes on her plate, feeling pretty full.

"Aren't you gonna eat those?" Fu eyed the sweet pastry products.

"No. And neither will you." Karin took the dish away and handed it to Yuna, who was also eying the pancakes but disliked the thought of standing in line again.

"Stingy." Fu pouted.

"I'm looking out for your health." Karin looked a bit serious.

"Buh. I'm as healthy as you are and just as full of energy!"

"Really?" Karin mocked her girlfriend a little.

"Really!" Fu couldn't believe that girl!

"Want to put some weight behind those words? If you can beat me at swimming later, you can eat as many pancakes as you want during this trip. If I win, you're gonna eat what I eat until we go back home." Karin grinned. Fu would never go back on her word like that.

Fu had the words stuck in her throat for a few seconds before breaking into a slight sweat. "O-Oh, you're on! I'll show you the true power of the mermaid of Seto!"

"Are you gonna sing _Your Gravitation_?" Itsuki asked and earned confused looks from everyone. "I liked that anime." She admitted, blushing.

As they were good people, they put away their dishes themselves and the group split up. Yuna and Tougou wanted to hit the shops to buy a different shampoo for Tougou because hers ran out while Itsuki, Karin, and Fu went back to the room.

Itsuki decided to skip on her swimsuit until it became hotter later in the day, grabbed a brand new novel she had saved, put on a large straw hat and a white dress, and headed out again, taking a spot in a calm, shadowy area where the noise of the park was reduced to a comfortable ambience.

Fu and Karin, left alone in the room, just sat on the balcony for a bit, leaning against each other. Karin eventually put her hand on Fu's and played with her index and middle fingers. "You know, I didn't expect Itsuki so be so understanding."

"You're her friend and I'm her sister. Tougou and Yuna are important friends to her too, so it doesn't surprise me. Itsuki isn't narrow-minded to begin with, she just used to be a little shy." Fu thought about this for a moment. "I think she is getting a bit too brazen recently."

"I'm pretty sure I know where that is coming from." Karin grinned and took Fu's hand, locking fingers.

"You love to rub it in, don't you?" Fu grinned, turned slightly, and kissed Karin briefly before breaking away and just looking into her girlfriend's eyes up close. The second kiss was a little more intense.

"Did I startle you last night? I guess using my tongue was a bit much." Fu sounded a bit apologetic about it and was surprised to find Karin shake her head.

"N-No, who do you think I am? A little tongue is nothing. I just didn't want to show you my great technique with Yuna and Tougou so close by." Karin lied straight through her teeth and squinted when a sudden burst of the still rising sun eliminated most of the shadows on the balcony and started to heat the place up like an oven.

"I'll look forward to that _great technique_ later then." Fu smirked and licked her lips. "I can't wait." After saying that, she groaned and tried to shield her eyes from the sun. "Should we change and go out? It's a shame to just lounge around when we're at a water park."

"You just want to see me in my swimsuit." Karin figured she made a pretty good figure with how athletic she was.

"That's funny, coming from the girl who bought me a super adult swimsuit!" Fu retorted. She didn't mind wearing the swimsuit at all, because it was from Karin and she wore it for Karin.

"I'll go change in the bathroom." Karin got up and pulled Fu with her into the room. "No peeking." Karin walked to the bathroom and turned around one more time. "I am totally gonna sink you, Fu. I hope you like vegetables." Karin smirked.

"Crud." Fu laughed nervously and retrieved her own swimsuit from a drying basket in the corner of the room. She'd have to try **really hard** or else she'd turn into a hamster for two days!


	6. When it rains, it pours

**When it rains, it pours**

Fu had a strong sense of déjà vu when Karin returned from running a lap around the pool to warm up while she stayed in the shadows, at their towels, and just did a few stretching exercises that Karin wanted her to do so she couldn't use missing those as an excuse when she lost.

"This reminds me of the first time we did this." Fu said, standing and throwing a water bottle to Karin, who didn't come to a full stop immediately but slowed down and walked around their towels once before standing in front of Fu. "Isn't it inconvenient to run in a bikini?"

"It provides a lot more support than you'd think." Karin boasted and suddenly felt like she had kicked herself. Remembering what Fu did the last time, Karin added "No cheat starts this time!"

"I know, I know. I wouldn't do that." _Dammit, I was totally going to do it_.

"You're thinking you were totally gonna do it. I can see it in your eyes." Karin frowned and looked a tad annoyed.

"No, no, what makes you think that?" Fu waved her hand and forced a smile.

"How much time do you think I've spent with you over the last month?" Karin realized that it really had been a **lot** of time and that kinda embarrassed her. "You always dragged me around and everything."

"Heh, I don't remember you ever saying no." Fu smiled and changed the topic.

"As if you'd let me get off with that!" Karin pointed at her girlfriend.

"Caught red-handed." Fu laughed and took her partner's hand. "Okay, okay, I was totally gonna trick you again. But can't you give me at least a handicap?"

Blushing and looking away, Karin pulled her hand from Fu's hold. "T- Five seconds." She would have said ten but she didn't want to look condescending in front of Fu. Not anymore.

"Yay." Fu grinned and walked three steps past Karin before turning around. "Wanna start?"

"You're on!" Karin was fired up. Despite everything, she loved contests and she was still as sore a loser as always.

Both of them stretched again, a little bit, at the start of the long swimming pool and they attracted quite the gallery now, which was embarrassing for both of them. "Don't even start and tell me we're going to get hit on if we're too feminine! I won't fall for that twice!"

_Crud_, Fu cursed jokingly in her head and stepped on the jumping stone. "Ready when you are!" There was a lot of whistling when Fu stepped up and bend forward.

Karin glared to the left and right once each and the whistling died down immediately. She was giving off a definite _She's **my** girlfriend_ aura. Stepping on the stone, Karin took a deep breath. "Three, two, one... go!"

Fu jumped head first into the water and Karin started to count to five in her head. Five seconds exactly, Karin jumped into the water and started catching up to Fu.

At the halfway point, Karin had almost caught up, the water splashing all around her and the gallery cheering, who for she didn't know, and when they turned to swim back, Karin could see Fu in the lane next to her, head to head.

Pulling ahead, Karin could feel the euphoria of winning already but there was something unpleasant mixed in. She was much more trained and she had made an unpleasant, for Fu, wager with her without risking anything herself. It wasn't fair and it wasn't nice, especially considering Fu was her girlfriend now.

Over a meter ahead at three quarters of the run, Karin started to feel so guilty she just decided on a whim that she valued Fu being happy over winning, which was a first for her. But she couldn't just slow down and lose like that, her pride wouldn't allow it.

Forcing an extra strong stroke with her leg, Karin felt her muscles ache and a cramp flare up. She was too composed to panic but she did have to fight to stay afloat. Fu passed her and only got about a meter ahead before she turned around, dove under the lane line, rings bound to a thick steel cord floating on the surface, and surfaced next to Karin, putting her arms under Karin's and holding her up.

Getting her to the edge of the pool, Karin pulled herself out and Fu followed suit. Karin felt terrible and just walked away, limping a little for about ten more seconds. The gallery had dispersed rather quickly when the race between the sexy girl and the athletic girl took an abrupt end and one saved the other.

Fu caught up with her at their towels, where Karin sat there and contemplated if that really had been the right decision. "Karin, are you okay?" Fu looked more irritated than worried.

"Yeah." Unable to look Fu directly in the face, Karin felt a sudden pain on her forehead. "Ouch! What was that for?!" Fu had flicked her forehead.

"I can guess what happened out there." Fu sat next to Karin and put an arm around her. "It was **really** sweet but that was dangerous and you really scared me there for a second."

"Sorry." Karin figured that there was no point in lying to Fu about this.

"There is no way someone who warmed up like that and is always doing all that training would just get a cramp when they're about to win. Especially not someone who's such a contest maniac." Fu pulled Karin a little closer and kissed her on the cheek. "I realized that right after I was done being scared."

"I'm really sorry." Karin blushed a little now because people who were walking by were giving them looks. The way Fu sat next to her, with an arm around her, was obviously the way a couple behaved.

"But I'm really flattered you'd lose on purpose just so I can eat what I want." Fu wished there were no people around because she really wanted to cuddle Karin right here and now.

"I-I didn't lose. The race ended in a draw, okay? A-And technically, I hit the goal before you did!"

"Okay, okay." Fu laughed, took Karin's hand and got up, pulling her girlfriend with her. "Let's get our stuff and go somewhere else."

"Where do you wanna go?" Karin felt a bit better now. Thank god Fu was so forgiving.

"I'm hungry. Maybe something to eat? I'll even let you order for me." Fu tried to be a good girlfriend. Earlier, she had realized that Karin was probably the best she could ever do. Nobody else knew about her hero activities and had lived through what they did. Itsuki liked Karin, they were in the same club, they both lived without parents, and the list went on.

"What if I decide to be mean and just order you a big salad?"

"I'll eat you instead then." Fu thought Karin would remember the joke she had made back then at the beach and Yuna had kinda nibbled on Karin's arm.

But instead, Karin blushed furiously and nearly pushed Fu away. "Y-You what?!" Memories of what Yuna and Tougou were doing last night flashed through Karin's mind and she instinctively covered herself up with her towel. "T-To say something like that in broad daylight!"

"Karin..." Fu was almost speechless. "Remember how Yuna said she was hungry and I told her to take a bite of you instead?"

"Oh." The brunette felt a little stupid now. "Don't be so confusing!"

Fu smirked when she figured out what Karin was thinking. "I guess Tougou left a lasting impression on you."

"Shut up!" Karin nearly shouted and looked away. "There was a nice vegetarian place near the center, you know, between the slides area and the kids area."

"Sounds good." Fu stopped teasing her girlfriend, wrapped her towel around her chest and took Karin's hand again.

Twenty minutes later, after walking past the restaurant twice because it didn't quite look like one, Fu and Karin sat alone on a table. Fu went for fried rice with extra vegetables and onions while Karin had an extra large mixed salad with tomatoes and pickled cucumbers as a side dish.

Putting rice and some onions on the large rice spoon, Fu held it out to Karin. "Try some, it's really good."

Karin felt a bit embarrassed over being fed in public but there weren't that many people around. Chomping on the spoon, she did quite like the taste. Putting the biggest slice of tomato she could find on her fork, she held it out to Fu who didn't even need an invitation and just snatched it right away with her mouth. "Oh, they're great."

Karin was so happy that she noticed the change in atmosphere only when she heard a distant thunder roar through the skies. They were sitting in the shade, with towels wrapped around them, so they hadn't noticed that the sun had hidden behind large black clouds and the temperature had fallen quite a bit. "You don't suppose it's going to r-" Karin jinxed it and before she could even finish her line, Fu had started stuffing her face as fast as she could. "You don't need to-"

Fu just pointed with her free hand to the staff working in the restaurant that were closing down the large umbrellas and putting the chairs inside. Karin stuffed as much of the salad into her mouth as she could before one of the worried employees walked up to them. They jumped up at the very second the rain hit.

And it didn't just hit. It was as if the entire heavens had soaked up all the world's oceans and was now furiously emptying itself onto the theme park. The poor employee was soaked within an instant. And then came the winds. Whipping like only tropical storms should be able to, despite standing under a large umbrella, Fu and Karin were soaked to the bone in seconds. Shouting "We're sorry." through the incredible noise of the rain, Fu and Karin ran for it. Fu as hard as she could and Karin just a little ahead of Fu, in case anything got in the way.

Making it back to their room, they found it abandoned and luckily the balcony was in the opposite direction of where the wind was blowing. Closing the door nonetheless, but not before Fu rescued Itsuki's novel from the floor, Karin and Fu wanted to just sink to the floor but they were creating puddles everywhere.

Karin was about to just take off her wet towel and swimsuit when Fu took her hand and shook her head, a lewd grin on her face. "Let's use this chance."

"Huh? What do you want to-" Karin didn't quite finish asking when Fu had dragged her into the bathroom. It was quite spacious. A large bathtub, an equally large shower, a sink, a toilet, a hair and hand dryer and a very large heater, mounted to the wall, were all present.

Taking off her towel, Fu watched Karin desperately hold on to hers. "You're not gonna strip all the way?!" Karin shook her head wildly. "I-I'm just gonna wait out-"

"Don't be silly. I don't think I could handle not fainting while taking a shower or bath naked with you just yet." Fu's lewd smile wasn't more of en embarrassed ones right now. "We have these nice swimsuits and we never get to enjoy them just in each others company, so..."

"You want to shower with me while wearing our swimsuits?" Karin was a little weirded out but also turned on by the idea. "Pervert..."

"I blame how good you look in that." Fu tried her best to play down how nervous she was but her hands were shaking and her voice would crack if she had to convince Karin any more than this.

Looking at the ground, Karin took off her towel and put it on the large heater. "Alright." She did buy that swimsuit for Fu, after all, and it **was** really sexy and she couldn't fully appreciate it with other people around all the time.

"Shower or Bath?"

"Shower. It takes too long to fill the bathtub. We're gonna freeze." Although Fu didn't really feel cold at all. The rain wasn't that cold and Karin's presence helped a lot to heat her up.

The shower was two glass walls and a glass door, one side the wall of the room. Turning on hot water, Karin felt immediately relieved by the heat. It was a little weird to stand in the shower with her swimsuit on but not entirely unpleasant.

It was about a meter fifty to a meter fifty, pretty spacious, and the shower head could be detached but for now remained on top of the glass cabin.

Fu joined her girlfriend a few seconds later, putting her hands gently against Karin's shoulders and pushing her a little further into the shower. The hot water was like a god send and both of them relaxed significantly.

"Karin." Fu's voice sounded quite sensual and she put her arms around Karin's waist, her breasts rubbing against Karin's bare back. "This is fine, right?"

The brunette blushed and got a little turned on. She knew that trying to compete with Yuna and Tougou was silly but she did want this, too. "No." Karin felt Fu let go and quickly turned around, putting both her hands on Fu's shoulders. "This is fine, right?" Karin's face was a little red because she was staring Fu directly in the face now.

With the hot water running down their bodies, Fu put her arms around Karin's waist. _If only I was a little taller_, Fu thought before kissing Karin, closing her eyes, tasting a mix of her partner's sweet lips and the hot water.

Karin's breathing sped up a little during the kiss, her heart beating faster and faster because she wanted to at least try to be a little more brave. Fu was so nice and understanding that she wanted to go one step further, just one step.

Her right hand slid down Fu's body, moving over the blonde's breasts once and then going back up, gently feeling her up. There was just a split second of pause in their kiss, Fu was surprised that Karin could be this bold, before they resumed and Fu bend forward a bit, pushing her breasts into Karin's hands.

Turned on even more now, Karin felt Fu's soft mounds through fabric. Fu was a little bigger than she was but that didn't bother her at all. Breaking the kiss apart, Karin's face was scarlet red. "S-Show me... what you tried to do last night."

"Don't force yourself, Karin." Fu smiled and instead bend forward even more, kissing the side of Karin's neck, caressing and drawing lines over her wet and hot back. "You can be a little rougher." Fu's voice felt hot and arousing to Karin, who squeezed Fu's breasts, now with both hands, and swallowed hard when the blonde moaned into her ear.

Pulling back and looking in Karin's eyes, Fu was seriously turned on, but she didn't want to push Karin into things. She didn't exactly know where to go from here anyway. Kissing her girlfriend again, Fu pushed and pushed until Karin's back was against the wall. Using one of her hands to turn up the water even more, steam started filled the bathroom, Fu caressed Karin's cheek.

"Fu..." Karin was breathing strongly through her nose, her chest going up and down with every breath. "You look super sexy in that swimsuit..." Karin blabbed out the first thing she thought of.

"So do you." Fu responded, leaning in and immediately freezing solid when she heard their hotel room door slam shut and voices outside the bathroom. _Of all the times!_

She couldn't tell what they were talking about but Karin was already panicking and attempting to turn off the water when Fu took her hand and stopped her.

Tougou and Yuna had come back, after running through the downpour, since they couldn't hold out at the sauna they had been at any longer. "You think Fu and Karin are in there together?" Yuna asked in a low voice.

"Look at the floor. Two tracks, going to the balcony and into the bathroom." Tougou replied. "Let's give them some alone time."

"Mimori... I don't want to go out into the cold." Yuna was whispering now.

"We don't have to, Yuna." Tougou smiled, opened the apartment door and slammed it shut. "Be. Really. Quiet." Tougou whispered and headed into the room, finding some fresh towels, handing one to Yuna and starting to undress. Even if Itsuki would suddenly come back, she could cover herself with a towel in time and she obviously didn't mind that Yuna saw her naked.

Inside the bathroom, Fu resumed what she was doing. "They're gone." Fu whispered to Karin and went back to kissing the brunette's neck.

Karin's heart was about to explode from being so incredibly nervous and turned on at the same time. But at this point, instincts took partially over. She wanted to be with Fu, in more ways than one. Responding in kind to Fu, Karin licked the blonde's neck, able to feel the shiver that sent down Fu's back.

Outside the bathroom, Tougou and Yuna were now cuddled into a futon, warming up and continuing where they had left off last night.

Itsuki on the other hand had not gotten soaked and was very much hoping it would eventually stop raining. She was stuck, in a sense, but at least she had nearly unlimited milkshakes and a novel to pass the time with. She had really picked up reading recently, after Fu and Karin had lost part of their sight and realizing how precious being able to see was.

Right now, Itsuki wasn't reading though but watching a very amusing couple. A tall, gray haired girl and a much shorter purple haired girl with twin tails, the former teasing the latter a lot by trying to feed her parts of a sundae and the short girl being embarrassed over it. From overhearing, Itsuki knew that the tall girl was called Kotone but she didn't catch what the short girl's name was.

There were a lot of couples in general at this milk bar and nobody seemed especially eager to go out into the storm and get soaking wet although there were a few people around Itsuki's age that were running through the rain, laughing loudly, looking a bit insane.

One such group was a blonde that looked completely bonkers as she danced through the rain followed by an annoyed looking girl with short, black hair and a mighty pissed looking pink haired girl with twintails.

Itsuki found it quite funny to sometimes just look around and see what other people were doing. A few tables away from the Kotone girl, Itsuki spotted another girl couple. She wasn't a 100% sure about the Kotone girl after all but she was **very** sure about these two. A redhead and a blonde, the former feeding the latter and the latter looking extremely embarrassed about it.

A gust of wind blew some of the blonde's hair in her face and it got stuck on her glasses and Itsuki had to hold in a giggle when the redhead got up and reached over the table to help the blonde fix her hair but in the process knocked over her ice cream with her rather large breasts.

Itsuki's attention was distracted by a single plastic chair that was being whipped over the ground by the rain, moving at a meter a second pace past the shop. _Hopefully it doesn't hit anyone_.

The sound of glass crashing focused her attention on the bar where a waitress was hastily wrapping a dish towel around her hand and another waitress was picking up thick glass shards. As a member of the hero club, Itsuki did the only responsible thing, closed her novel and left it on the table, got up and offered her help in waiting tables for a while.

No new guests were coming so it was quite the easy job and Itsuki found that the aprons, the only real uniform all the waitresses wore over their regular clothes, were very cute. The redhead with the blonde glasses girl was still struggling to fix the mess she had made and Itsuki took care of that first. "I'll take this. I'll bring you a replacement right away." Serving with a smile, Itsuki was really thankful that she had her voice back.

"Thank you so much. I'm really sorry about this." The redhead apologized and let Itsuki clean up.

Heading back, Itsuki caught that the redhead's name was apparently Haruka. Going back to the bar, the waitresses were really thankful for the help since they were busy trying to prevent any damage to the shop and not very free to actually wait tables.

_I wonder how long this rain is going to keep going. It's pouring really hard so I hope it won't last more than an hour or so_, Itsuki thought.


	7. Dark Clouds Rising

**Dark Clouds Rising**

"Are you mad?" Karin sat on a small wooden chair in the steam filled bathroom, wrapped into a towel, her swimsuit on the heater. Fu was behind her, sitting on an identical chair, wielding a hair dryer and slowly drying Karin's hair.

"Hm? What about?" Fu really had no idea what Karin meant but she had a vague guess.

"About making you stop. You were pretty into it." Karin had called a stop to the make out when she started to feel uncomfortable from going too far, too fast.

"Don't be stupid." Fu laughed and poked Karin's sides with her free hand. "What kind of terrible girlfriend would I be if I got mad over respecting my cute girlfriend's wishes?"

"Are you making fun of me?" Karin couldn't take Fu entirely seriously right now.

"No." Turning the hair dryer off and putting it on the ground for a moment, Fu hugged Karin from behind. "I like teasing you for fun but that's completely different from this. You wanted me to stop, so I stopped. And... really, I'm glad you did." Fu laughed a bit louder now. "I had no idea what to do next, anyway." It was **really** embarrassing for Fu to admit that and she hoped Karin appreciated that.

"Thanks." She did. "That means a lot to me." Knowing that Fu probably had to work up a lot of courage to say that, Karin tried to do the same. "I'm not... very good with... **that** stuff."

"I know. I remember how you kept to your own little corner at the hot springs and were really embarrassed when I got up and posed for you. You're not good with nakedness. That's why I wanted you to keep your swimsuit on."

"You're being so considerate it's kinda pissing me off now." Karin grumbled.

"That's typical you." Fu smirked, let go of Karin and picked the dryer back up. "Say, would you mind keeping your hair down for the rest of today? I like your usual style but you look kinda sexy with your hair down."

"I-If you insist." Karin was really flattered over getting called sexy.

"Thanks." Fu continued to dry Karin's hair for her. "You think it's still storming outside?"

And storming it was. Like an evil wizard had cast several summon storm spells in a spot and walked away for tea and then forget all about cleaning up. Itsuki had fled the restaurant like everyone else when staff employees from the hotel and theme park arrived with a veritable army of umbrellas.

They weren't terribly helpful but Itsuki managed to get to the hotel lobby, that was terribly over-crowded, just very wet and not completely soaked. Taking the umbrella with her, Itsuki tried to wiggle through the lobby. There were a ton of people, large girls she was surprised to see, and a lot of them had towels on their head.

Heading up to her room, Itsuki was wished she had actually worn her swimsuit outside today. Her clothes were pretty wet and she hadn't brought that many outfits with her. Taking her room card and opening the door, she found Tougou, Yuna, Karin and Fu, all wearing bathrobes, assembled around the small table in the middle of the room, playing a board games.

"Itsuki!" Fu jumped up and dropped the dice, to which Karin paid great attention. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." A bright smile on Itsuki's face put her sister on ease. "I helped out some people at a restaurant, that's why I'm late. There's a **ton** of people downstairs in the lobby. It's the end of the world out there." Itsuki joked and realized that that wasn't really funny given the current company. "Ah. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Tougou said and smiled. "It's out of our hands now. And we're on vacation, too."

"Do you think we should go down and see if we can help?" Yuna asked and Tougou seemed to think about it for a moment.

"It's one thing to do that in our own town, but these people are paid to handle this and they don't know us. And if one of us gets into trouble, they'd be accountable for letting us help."

"Didn't expect you to be so realistic about this, Tougou." Karin commented and waited for Fu to sit back down next to her.

"Helping people is a wonderful thing but we shouldn't push ourselves on people that don't know us at all."

"Just like Karin did." Fu grinned wide and sat down next to her girlfriend while Itsuki went into the bathroom to change clothes and maybe take a hot bath.

"Hey!" Karin objected. "You **totally** needed my help! Especially you, Fu!"

"Now, now." Tougou tried to stop them from fighting but she hadn't quite realized yet that this was just normal for them.

"I totally had things under control. But my love life would've been totally screwed if you didn't show up." Fu knew exactly how to push Karin's buttons.

"O-Of course. I'm the only one that can stick through your constant boasting."

"Look who's talking!" Fu smirked and started to tickle Karin, who was surprisingly susceptible to that and started laughing until her head resembled a red balloon.

"Fu, stop, she's gonna explode." Yuna grinned and Fu really stopped, watching Karin lay flat on her back, panting.

"You tyrant." Karin complained while pouting. "Now make your turn! We were winning!"

"Karin's still as victory obsessed as ever." Yuna laughed. "Alright, we're not gonna lose! I'll show you my super secret dice throwing technique!"

A lot of turns later, a rivalry between Yuna and Karin flaring up, It was all down to Fu rolling the right number to get into the goal before Tougou. Yuna and Karin were done already and only now watching their partners.

Fu was crumbling under the intense pressure and Tougou wasn't looking too great either. "Yuna, aren't you taking this a little too seriously?"

"What are you talking about, Tougou? We can't let them win!" Yuna glared at Karin, who glared back, and there was almost sparks flying through the air.

"She's right! You better win this, Fu!"

Her hand was shaking a little when Fu rolled the dices. The first cube stopped and showed the correct number. The second slowed down, Karin and Yuna were nearly stopping it with their gazes alone, and showed too many eyes. Fu felt like taking cover but Karin fell into full depression instead. "Karin... I-I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Karin sighed while Yuna was triumphant.

Tougou rolled the dice, won and sighed. "Jeez, Yuna, you shouldn't act so much like Karin. It's not nice."

"My bad." The redhead calmed down a little.

"Again! Karin got up, demanding a rematch. "I'll beat you this time for sure, Yuki Yuna!"

Fu gently hit Karin on the head. "Don't be silly."

"But-"

"No buts." Fu shook her head.

"If you want to continue, there is an arcade in the basement." Tougou revealed.

"Yuna!" Karin jumped up.

"Yeah!"

Fu and Tougou were left behind, with Itsuki still in the bathtub, soaking in hot water, their partners running off together, hastily changed into clothes, heading for the basement of the hotel. "In some ways they're quite similar." Fu grinned. "Although I can't say I'm much better."

"Yuna get's wrapped up in Karin's pace sometimes." Tougou said while putting away the board game.

"What am I gonna do now?" Fu wondered out loud while laying down on her futon. It smelled a little like Karin, which was really pleasant. "Maybe I'll go and find those two and stop them from playing the entire arcade."

"Wouldn't you end up playing everything yourself?" Tougou mused and bend forward to look over the table when she didn't receive an answer.

Tempted by the fragrance of Karin still stuck to the futon, Fu let herself be carried off into a land of dreams. "Not a bad idea." Tougou giggled and decided to maybe take a short nap herself. She was a little tired from all that _exercise_ earlier.

A good two and a half hours later, Yuna and Karin returned from the arcade, much poorer and very much regretting that they had let their competitive nature run away with them. Itsuki was quietly reading while Fu had made a mess of her own and Karin's futon. Tougou was also reading but had woken up just about fifteen minutes prior.

"Who won?" Tougou asked and the resulting faces very much told her that they both lost, somehow. "What happened?"

"A crazy brunette and her friends were at the arcade and we sorted started challenging her. What was her name again, Yuna?"

"I don't remember." Yuna felt very much beaten.

"They had a pretty prince type girl with them too."

"I thought it was a guy the whole time." Yuna admitted and felt a bit silly.

"The crazy girl was constantly laughing like a maniac. In the motorcycle multiplayer game, she played like it was some kind of destruction derby." Karin shook her head. "They had a girl with orange hair with them, too. She wasn't any good at the games and she seemed like the only normal person."

"We played Speed Racer, 3D Fighter, ping pong, a puzzle fighter, four different fighting games, two card games, two memory games and another racer and we lost almost everything." Yuna counted with her fingers.

"We were lucky a bunch of guys showed up to pick them up. One of them was so tall he was basically a tree." Karin sat down next to Fu and shook her lightly to wake her up. "Fu, wake up."

Waking up, rolling on her back, keeping her eyes closed, Fu pursed her lips, waiting for a wake up kiss. Instead, she got shaken a little rougher and opened her eyes and found a very irritated and slightly depressed Karin. "Jeez, what happened Karin?"

"I lost a whole bunch to a crazy, a prince and a poison mushroom." Karin summarized the events and cuddled up to Fu. "I'm sick of arcades now."

"Aw, poor Karin." Fu patted her girlfriend's head and expected her to complain but she just let Fu do it. "Yuna, was it really that bad?"

"It was like playing against a hurricane." Yuna was doing the same as Karin, cuddling up to Tougou, sitting in her lap and holding Tougou's hands.

"You poor thing." The black haired girl consoled her girlfriend.

"You poor thing." Fu copied Tougou and was immediately rewarded with pouting Karin. "Don't pout, I'm just learning from the master."

"Fu, do you like rock music?" Karin wondered while playing with Fu's fingers. It calmed her down to do that. And she really needed some calming down after all that losing. Her pride was seriously cracked.

"I'm pretty open about music. Rock is pretty nice, though." Fu locked fingers with Karin and pulled her a little closer, both of them just laying there.

"The hurricane said there's a concert just outside the park later today. I dunno if you heard of them before but Tari² is playing and I really like them."

"What about tickets?" Fu asked.

"It's not that big a place. First come, first serve, paying right at the entrance until they're full. I-I would accompany you if you wanna go." Karin was still not very honest about what she wanted.

"You're totally raring to go." Fu smirked. "I'll go." Asking without saying anything, Fu nodded towards the table and Karin nodded twice. "Itsuki, Yuna, Tougou, do you wanna go too?"

"Tougou?." Yuna said, now laying on her futon and using Tougou's lap as pillow.

"Why not? I don't think I've ever been on a concert."

"I heard their music before, I'm coming too. Can't miss my sis and Karin being at a concert." Itsuki giggled just imagining how they would go wild.

"Karin, is this going to be before dinner?" Fu was now playing with a strand of her girlfriend's hair and thought _I could totally get used to this_.

"We're gonna have to get dinner when they open the buffet. We got like forty minutes to eat, change and walk like a kilometer or so. Easy." Karin had a mental list for these things. Making a schedule out of anything was kinda her thing.

"When is dinner?" Yuna rolled over and got slowly up, yawning once. She had exerted way too much energy. "And this is an obvious question, but how are we gonna get to the concert without getting soaked?"

"In about an hour and a half." Fu answered for Karin.

"For one we can hope it'll let up until then. Alternatively, we can just stack umbrellas or stay here." Karin didn't sound very enthusiastic about the last option.

"What are we gonna do until then?" Fu wondered out loud while still playing with Karin's hair and casually smelling it.

"Flop around." Yuna answered and laid back down, on Tougou's lap, pursing her lips and waving for Tougou to bend down.

Fu only heard a brief kissing sound when she looked below the table and saw strands of Tougou's hair run over Yuna's shoulder. Poking Karin's cheek and smiling, the brunette looked and her contest spirit was immediately reawakened. Wildly kissing a surprised Fu, Karin broke out in laughter when Fu stopped her by the way of tickling. "Stop it, not again!" Karin laughed, almost painfully so.

Gasping for air when Fu stopped, Karin laid flat on her back. "I never thought things would end up like this just six months ago."

"You mean having a beautiful and cool girlfriend, great friends and a free vacation at a water theme park?" Fu got up and looked at Karin as alluring as she could.

"Pretty much, but where is this beautiful and cool girlfriend?" Karin mocked her partner.

"Me, of course!" Fu ignored Karin's attempt to tease her and proudly put her hand on her chest. "If I'm not beautiful and cool, then who is?"

"Yuna is definitely cooler than you, and Tougou is more beautiful." Karin smiled wide and watched her words TKO Fu right away, the blonde flinging herself to the ground, defeated.

"Oh my." Tougou grinned and looked to Yuna. "You shouldn't say things like that, Karin. Not even to tease Fu."

"She's asking for it." Karin said proudly. "Well, she **is** pretty cool and beautiful, just not better than either of you in their respective strength." _But she's cooler than Tougou and hotter than Yuna_.

Karin!" Fu grabbed her girlfriend and rubbed her cheek against Karin's stomach. "So you do like me!"

"Of course I do. Don't be silly. Would I let anyone else do what you're doing? Of course not." Karin patted Fu's head and earned some really doting looks from Tougou.

"I kinda want my hero outfit back." Yuna just blurted out of nowhere. "Not even the powers, just the outfit." _And Tougou's outfit. I'll never forget how form fitting it was._

"Why?" Tougou was happy that all of that was finally behind them.

"Because they looked really cool!" Yuna was very enthusiastic about this.

"Well, you could try contacting the Taisha but I think it's impossible." Karin said, fully expecting Yuna to just give up.

"Good idea." Yuna crawled over to her bag and pulled out her phone, typing a short message and hitting send, all while the other four heroes watched in amazement.

"Did you really just ask them... actually, ask them for what exactly?" Fu wondered out loud.

"I wrote that we would be really happy if we could at least our fits and the chatting app back as honorary heroes or something like that. There's no harm in that, right?"

_They'll think we're all into cosplay_, Itsuki wrote on her notepad. Flipping a page _But I actually don't mind_, flipping another page. _I really liked my clothes, they were a nice color_.

"I bet Yuna just wants Tougou to look all megalopolis again." Fu had a lewd grin on her face.

"Fu, do you even know what megalopolis means?" Karin said, taking Fu's hand and resting against the blonde's shoulder.

"E-Eh? It means something really, really big, right?" Fu was not very confident in her English skills.

"A megalopolis is a town of a certain size, actually." Tougou explained while Karin nodded.

"Calling her that because of her really big breasts is just weird, Fu. It's like calling you a metropolis." Karin made a comparison that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

"Spoilsport one and two." Fu grumbled.

_Sis has always been creative with her English._ Itsuki flipped another page. _Or rather, inventive_. Itsuki smiled wide and earned a loud laugh from Yuna and Karin.

"At least I'm creative. Yuna was just really bland with her hero abilities!" Fu liked swords quite a lot. _Actually, what a coincidence that Karin used to dual wield swords_, she thought.

"Hey! A real hero doesn't need to use any weapons! They are a weapon themselves!" Yuna defended her pick of fighting style.

"No, no, no, heroes need some impressive weaponry, like a really big sword."

_Effect of looks_, Itsuki wrote, quite happy with her own pick.

"Itsuki is completely right." Karin jumped in. "It doesn't matter if you punch or slash or cut an enemy to pieces. Tougou probably had the most intelligent pick out of all of us."

"I wasn't very useful when the enemy got too close, though. Yuna and Itsuki were great with those." Tougou didn't mind **some** reminiscing about their hero days.

"I'd protect you from anything, Tougou." Yuna smiled and hugged her partner. "I won't let anyone get close to you."

_That doesn't sound like you're talking about vertexes anymore, Yuna_, Itsuki wrote and had both Fu and Karin sheepishly grin.

"That's fine. Right, Tougou?" Yuna said happily and hugged Tougou a little tighter.

"Yes." The black haired girl was happy that she was so loved.

"Karin and I can protect each other, just like you two. We can literally have each others back." Fu put her arm around Karin, who blushed a bit.

_You're all so love love._ Itsuki hid half behind her notepad and smiled.

It didn't have the intended effect and Fu suddenly felt guilty. "I'm sorry you're kinda left out of this, Itsuki." Before she could say anything else, something stupid possibly, Itsuki dropped her act.

"Sis, I'm not left out, just because I'm not dating anyone." Itsuki shook her head. "I'm **really** happy you and Karin are together. I hope Karin can become kinda like a sister for me, too."

Karin blushed **intensely** upon hearing that and stuttered a few incomprehensible words before Yuna jumped in, with a big grin. "Itsuki vs Karin, ten to zero, game, set and match. You have a lot to learn from Itsuki, Fu." Yuna joked and watched Itsuki and Fu both look at each other and laugh.

Yuna's phone vibrated and the redhead picked it up, checking her text messages. "A reply from the Taisha."

"So fast!" Karin and Fu shot out at the exact same moment.

"It shouldn't be too much trouble, they say."

"Seriously?" Fu and Karin continued their feat of perfectly synchronized speaking.

"Fu, you were off by an hour. When you said dinner is in an hour and a half, it was just half an hour!" Yuna jumped up and it took a second to sink it. They were already late.

"**Fu!**" Karin shouted as she jumped up and picked up her clothes to get changed.

"Ahahaha, what can I say, I lose track of time when I'm with my cute girlfriend!" Fu said as she hastily put on some clothes.


End file.
